The US once allied with Islamist forces before treating them as enemies

Evidence

The “Islam strategy” would eventually lead to America’s financial support of Osama bin Laden’s mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union—the same ones who later planned the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. When it benefited US interests, the United States sent military aid to the mujahideen and Osama bin Laden, calling them “freedom fighters” against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. But as soon as they were no longer useful to the United States, that is, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the same group of mujahideen—Al-Qaeda—was designated a terrorist group. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 648 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

It is important to start by noting that Islamist groups were not always seen by the US government as enemies. As we will see in the following chapter, during the Cold War the United States supported the parties of political Islam against secular nationalist and leftist parties it believed to be in the pocket of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the Iranian revolution of 1979, which deposed the US-backed Shah and brought a Shi’a Islamist government to power, meant that the United States had Islamist enemies at the same time as it had Islamist allies. In a nutshell, the foreign policy establishment’s view of political Islam has been neither uniform nor consistent. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 214 (#expands, via linked claim)

Muammar Gaddafi also deployed Islamic symbols and language to legitimize his rule in Libya in the early 1970s. A vocal opponent of the West, he proclaimed that Libya was an Islamic state and that he intended to promote Islamic “radicalism” and “terrorism” around the world. The United States frowned upon Gaddafi but at the same time gave its consent to King Faisal of Saudi Arabia as he attempted to Islamize politics in the region. The logic was that the kind of top-down Islamism promoted by Saudi Arabia could be controlled from above and therefore made to work in the United States’ interests, whereas Gaddafi’s variant could not. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 233 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The US held contradictory Islamist allies and enemies simultaneously — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 214; US policymakers treated Islamist movements as allies before the Iranian Revolution. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 473; US tolerated Islamist political assassinations when allies performed them (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• The US held contradictory Islamist allies and enemies simultaneously #expands (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 214
• The US armed Al-Qaeda as freedom fighters before designating it a terrorist group #exemplifies (0.90) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 648
• US policymakers treated Islamist movements as allies before the Iranian Revolution. #exemplifies (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 473
• The US alternately armed and opposed Islamist forces to preserve its regional domination. #expands (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 29
• US facilitated Muslim violence when it served Cold War interests #expands (0.85) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 288
• US hostility to Islamism depended on whether it served US interests #expands (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 233
• Islamist groups are labeled allies or terrorists based on US interests #expands (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 400
• US imperial interests, not Islamist actions, determine Islamist ally or enemy status #expands (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 278
• Islam organizations were US allies before the 1979 Iranian Revolution #exemplifies (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 389
• US allied with Saudi Islamization while praising authoritarian Shah Iran #exemplifies (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 394
• US tolerated Islamist political assassinations when allies performed them #expands (0.75)
• US rhetoric about Islam contradicted its own arming of Islamists #contradicts (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 395
• Political assassinations by allies were acceptable before being relabeled terrorism #expands (0.75)
• US instrumental use of Islamists produced today’s negative Islam frame #expands (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 395
• Soviet defeat in Afghanistan legitimized Islamist militancy in the region #expands (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 399