US power legitimated Islamist dictator Zia while fighting Soviet expansion

Evidence

The one constant underlying the various zigzags in attitudes among the US ruling class is that Islamists were pegged as allies or enemies based on US interests and political hegemony. The debate between confrontationists and accommodationists within the foreign policy establishment does not question the right of the United States to assert its power around the world. Thus, this debate is more aptly characterized as a tactical disagreement between conservative (or, more aptly, neoconservative) and liberal imperialists on how best to realize the aims of empire-building. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 278 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Chapter 4 outlines the contradictory policy pursued by the US political elite toward the parties of political Islam. During the Cold War and up until the Iranian revolution of 1979, the United States enthusiastically supported forces that could Islamize the Middle East and serve as a counter to those that posed a challenge to its domination—secular nationalists and the left. In the period after the 1970s, policy makers forged alliances with those Islamists who were on the side of US imperialism and militated against those who refused to play this role. Even after 9/11, when Islamists in general were projected as the arch enemy of the United States, the aforementioned approach would continue. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 29 (#expands, 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)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 247; US imperial interests, not Islamist actions, determine Islamist ally or enemy status — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 278; The US alternately armed and opposed Islamist forces to preserve its regional domination. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 29 (+2 more)

Related

• The US held contradictory Islamist allies and enemies simultaneously (similarity 0.90)
• The US alternately armed and opposed Islamist forces to preserve its regional domination. (similarity 0.90)
• US policy was always split between anti-Soviet and anti-Islamist interests (similarity 0.89)
• US imperial interests, not Islamist actions, determine Islamist ally or enemy status (similarity 0.88)
• The US once allied with Islamist forces before treating them as enemies (similarity 0.88)
• Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution (similarity 0.87)
• US allied with Saudi Islamization while praising authoritarian Shah Iran (similarity 0.87)
• US policymakers treated Islamist movements as allies before the Iranian Revolution. (similarity 0.86)
• US policy treated Islam as good or bad depending on imperial alignment (similarity 0.85)
• Islam organizations were US allies before the 1979 Iranian Revolution (similarity 0.84)
• American Cold War strategy cultivated Islamists against secular nationalism (similarity 0.84)
• US officials welcomed Saudi Islamicization as a Cold War counterweight to Nasser (similarity 0.84)
• Sadat’s regime deliberately cultivated Islamist groups against secularist policies (similarity 0.84)
• Eisenhower’s doctrine secretly armed Islamist groups against secular nationalists. (similarity 0.83)
• US support for Islamists continued in the 1980s despite threats to Israel (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• US imperial interests, not Islamist actions, determine Islamist ally or enemy status #exemplifies (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 278
• Cold War logic led the US to fund Islamists even after Iran’s revolution #expands (0.70) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 247
• The US alternately armed and opposed Islamist forces to preserve its regional domination. #expands (0.70) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 29
• The US held contradictory Islamist allies and enemies simultaneously #expands (0.70) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 214
• US policy was always split between anti-Soviet and anti-Islamist interests #expands (0.65) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 220