Friday marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. While al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead, the ideology he nurtured and cultivated is alive and well. Indeed, it is perhaps even more pervasive in Islamic societies than it was a quarter-century ago.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman slips into the pattern of many predecessors. He seeks to balance reform at home with appeasing Islamists by supporting jihadi groups abroad. From Libya to Yemen to Sudan and Somalia, Saudi Arabia promotes the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups. Turkey, Pakistan, and Qatar trade personal and business ties with senior politicians to buy immunity from accountability for terrorist financing.
The real question is not whether there will be a new 9/11, but whether it will emerge from Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and/or Qatar. The growing vulnerability of the United States to new mass terrorist attacks rests not only on the will of liberalism’s enemies but also on a growing tendency of groups generally antagonistic to U.S. foreign policy to disrupt the cooperation necessary to nip plots in the bud.
The U.S. has never had as two-faced an ally as Pakistan.
As presidents poured billions of dollars into Pakistan, the same military leaders who hid bin Laden also siphoned millions of dollars into offshore accounts. Two Pakistani factories produced more than 90% of the fertilizer used by the Taliban to build bombs to kill and maim American troops. Pakistani leaders did nothing. Nor does Pakistan limit itself to support of al Qaeda-like groups; it is also the chief financier and sponsor of the Khalistan movement, responsible for the deadliest aircraft bombing before 9/11.
Just as Israel’s Mossad is the top intelligence service monitoring Iran and Turkey, India’s Research & Analysis Wing is the most agile, adept intelligence service monitoring Pakistani malfeasance. Prudence dictates that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence engage openly with RAW for mutual benefit, especially given growing criminality and extremism among Khalistani activists and organizations in the U.S. and Canada.
To block such cooperation, Democratic Socialists of America affiliates appear increasingly to be operating in the same orbit, if not coordinating directly with Islamist groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations and Sikh groups, including the Sikh Coalition and Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Just as CAIR has long voiced accusations of “Islamophobia” to stigmatize and shut down legitimate investigations of financial impropriety and extremist ties, so too do some Sikh groups exaggerate claims of “transnational repression” to block law enforcement efforts to coordinate against Khalistan militants. The tell for CAIR’s moral bankruptcy is that it even slimes moderate Muslims as “Islamophobes.”
Transnational repression is wrong, but terrorism apologists masquerading as civil rights cry wolf by labeling any investigation or accountability for real crimes, tax fraud, and terrorist support as “transnational repression.” A useful rule-of-thumb for the post-9/11 era should be that the refusal to weed out real militants is a sign of organizational corruption.
Hindus for Human Rights embraced New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign and now expects payback. DSA groups increasingly join Islamic and Sikh militants to sign onto anti-Hindu statements and initiatives. DSA groups are also at the vanguard of efforts to block the expansion of U.S.-Somaliland ties. There is no greater ally to the U.S. in the exposure of Somali fraud and pro-terrorist money laundering than Somaliland, yet Rep. Ilham Omar (D-MN) repeatedly tries to promote Mogadishu’s interest in the status quo gravy train.
The danger of the growing Marxist-Islamist-Khalistani is multifold.
First, it normalizes and justifies violent extremist movements. Second, it demonizes certain groups, such as Jews and Hindus, using Zionist and Hindutva labels to malign and silence them. Third, it attempts to undermine important U.S. partnerships with Israel, India, and other allied countries that are critical for national security and counterterrorism cooperation, absent which a new 9/11 will be a certainty.
Michael Rubin is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum, a distinguished fellow at India’s Usanas Foundation, and a contributor to Beltway Confidential.