(Translation of my Urdu article)
Twenty-three years have passed since the September 11, 2001
attacks. These unfortunate attacks resulted in the loss of nearly 3,000 lives
and gave the American eagles a free hand to fulfill their desire for Pax
Americana. After these attacks, the global war on terrorism began, and the US
administration clearly told the international community that either they were
with the US or against it.
Since all the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks were Muslims,
the first phase of the attack was on Afghanistan, and within a few weeks, the
Taliban government was toppled, and a US-backed government was established. In
2003, a false intelligence report on weapons of mass destruction was used as a
pretext to attack Iraq, and the Saddam government was overthrown.
The Iraq war changed the political landscape of the Middle
East. After World War II, the political system of the Middle East was divided
into two camps: US-backed monarchies and emirates on one side and Arab
nationalist governments supported by the Soviet Union on the other.
After the US occupation of Iraq, sectarian and ethnic
divisions became apparent in Iraq and the wider Middle East. On one side were
the Kurds, who had been supported by Israel since the late 1990s and had
provided intelligence to the US for the attack on Iraq. On the other side were
the Shiites and then the Sunnis. Additionally, the Arab-Kurdish conflict
intensified and spread to Syria, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.
Similarly, after the collapse of Russia, the US attitude
towards Saudi Arabia changed, and especially during the Clinton administration,
the Saudi government was under pressure. After the 9/11 attacks, although the
Bush administration politically supported Saudi Arabia, the US media and
Democratic Party openly criticized Saudi Arabia, forcing it to implement
reforms.
After Bush, the Obama administration came to power, and
during his tenure, Saudi Arabia was again pressured in the name of human
rights. Then, during the Arab Spring, the US administration supported the
revolutionaries against Saudi wishes. In 2015, after the death of Saudi King
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Salman bin Abdulaziz became the king of Saudi Arabia,
and his son Mohammed bin Salman brought about a clear change in Saudi policy by
establishing relations with major powers, especially China and then Russia, for
the first time in history, apart from the US, and forced US President Biden to
reconsider the importance of Saudi Arabia and his attitude towards it.
In Syria, which was ruled by the Arab nationalist Ba'ath
Party, Bashar al-Assad had taken over the government after the death of his
father Hafez al-Assad before 9/11. In the early 2000s, an intellectual movement
for reforms, known as the Damascus Spring, emerged, which could have brought
about a positive change in Syria and the post-Cold War global landscape.
However, unfortunately, the Bashar al-Assad administration cracked down on the
activists, and the movement was suppressed. The effects of this were seen in
the Arab Spring and the civil war that began in 2011, from which the Syrian
government has not yet fully recovered.
Iran, which had been under US pressure since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution, focused on its peaceful nuclear program after 9/11. As a result, it
faced further sanctions from the US, and after the US occupation of Iraq,
sectarian tensions rose, and Iran's relations with GCC countries deteriorated,
especially during the Arab Spring, when the issue reached Kuwait and Bahrain,
and Iran-Arab international relations became bitter.
In my analysis, the US was following a policy of divide and
rule. Its policies created Kurdish, Shia, and Sunni poles so that they would
remain entangled with each other, and Israel would play the role of balancer
and become stronger. During this period, extremist organizations like ISIS emerged.
Similarly, in my analysis, the support for the Arab Spring
was not out of love for the Arab people but to relieve the pressure building up
in Arab world due to dictators and US policies which they towed , with potential to bring end to status qou. In the end the order that emerged after Arab spring was in the interest of the US... change of faces...status quo , people like Qaddafi gone and threats of change eliminated.
US policies exposed US intentions to Arab countries,
especially Saudi Arabia, and we saw that Saudi Arabia and other important Arab
countries began to establish relations with China and other countries so that
they would not be dependent solely on the US, which was proving dangerous for
their interests. Therefore, we saw that Saudi Arabia, through the UAE and
Egypt, started supporting Syria's Bashar al-Assad in 2018, and now Syria has
returned to the Arab League. Similarly, relations have resumed between Saudi
Arabia and Iran with China's help, with mutual respect evident. The GCC
countries, especially Saudi Arabia, have joined BRICS, which is being called an
anti-Western alliance or platform."