Military defeat incited rather than checked totalitarian radicalization

Evidence

The Soviet Union’s retreat from Afghanistan in 1989 marked a high point for the global Islamist movement and legitimized the extremist tactics of the militants in eyes of others who now looked to them as a way forward. Their job complete in Afghanistan, the holy warriors now dispersed to other regions such as Bosnia, Kashmir, and elsewhere to carry on their jihad. The former CIA asset bin Laden, in alliance with the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahari, formed al-Qaeda and turned the Afghan jihad into a global phenomenon. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 257 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Total terror emerges only after opposition is already defeated; Military defeat of guerrilla bands shifted rather than ended the revolution’s political impact; Military defeat of the rebellion coincided with its growing political entrenchment among civilians (+4 more)

Related

• Soviet defeat in 1989 legitimized and globalized the Islamist militant movement (similarity 0.88)
• Soviet defeat in Afghanistan legitimized Islamist militancy in the region (similarity 0.87)
• The Afghan war transformed marginal terrorists into an organized movement (similarity 0.81)
• Jihadists believed their Afghan war defeated the USSR and emboldened attacks on the US (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Military defeat of the rebellion coincided with its growing political entrenchment among civilians #corroborates (0.78)
• Military defeat of guerrilla bands shifted rather than ended the revolution’s political impact #corroborates (0.75)
• Soviet defeat in 1989 legitimized and globalized the Islamist militant movement #corroborates (0.72) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 257