Soviet defeat in 1989 legitimized and globalized the Islamist militant movement

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

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Muslim terrorist replaced the Soviet communist as the West’s public enemy number one — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 259; The US held contradictory Islamist allies and enemies simultaneously — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 214; Islamist movements achieved decisive electoral and geopolitical victories around 1991 — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 265 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Islamist movements achieved decisive electoral and geopolitical victories around 1991 #expands (0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 265
• The War on Terror metastasized into a global network of state crusades against Muslims #expands (0.50)
• American Cold War strategy cultivated Islamists against secular nationalism #expands (0.40) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 219
• The same Islamist figures who denounced the US conspired with the CIA against nationalists #expands (0.40) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 370