Soviet defeat in Afghanistan legitimized Islamist militancy in the region

Evidence

For the first time it seemed as if a global “community of believers” had come together to fight against infidel encroachment, thanks to the United States and its allies in the region. The Soviet Union’s retreat from Afghanistan in 1989 marked a high point for Islamists in the region, and it legitimized the extreme tactics of the militants in the 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 struggles and to be dubbed “bad” from then on. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 399

Categorization

• XREF: Ties directly to the vault claim about imperial sponsorship creating the mujahideen; shows the causal hinge: US proxy war victory empowered the very militants later labeled a threat. — connects to: The US once allied with Islamist forces before treating them as enemies; Eisenhower’s doctrine secretly armed Islamist groups against secular nationalists.; Afghan war transformed scattered urban militants into an organized movement — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 397 (+6 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 399

Broader Connections

• Soviet defeat in 1989 legitimized and globalized the Islamist militant movement #corroborates (0.96) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 257
• Jihadists believed their Afghan war defeated the USSR and emboldened attacks on the US #corroborates (0.90) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1787
• The Afghan war assembled previously isolated Islamist militants into a movement #expands (0.75)