By Pradyut Hande:
A few days ago I wrote about how the slaying of the American Ambassador to Libya, on the crest of rising tides of widespread furore directed at the USA in the backdrop of the blasphemous film, “Innocence of Muslims” would prove to be a harbinger of darker times in the offing with regards to the USA’s already fractured relations with the Muslim world at large. Since then, the waves of resentment have spread like wildfire across the globe, with American diplomatic establishments coming under periodic attacks perpetuated by angry mobs and in the process, fuelling a major law and order problem in many countries. As I’d previously stated, all it took was an inflammatory provocation to light the spark of rousing rage against the USA that has been simmering just under the surface for a while now.
This latest “uprising” across the Islamic world has also presented bellicose terrorist outfits with the “perfect avenue” to further their “ultra-aggressive militancy agenda” in the name of protecting the integrity of Islam against the “infidels”. Consequently, the likes of al-Qaeda and the Taliban have publicly encouraged the irate hoi polloi to attack Americans in an endeavour to send them a strong message. In the face of an already deteriorating situation, perched precariously on the precipice of further disaster, the Taliban launched a brazen attack on one of the USA’s most secure bases in Helmand, Afghanistan. The audacious assault resulted in the total destruction of six fighter jet planes and significant damage to property. The sheer nature of this attack is symptomatic of an amplified anti-USA mindset fuelled by decades of American intervention and involvement in strife torn Islamic states. Since the 1980s, the USA’s proactive presence in the Arab dominion and then its subsequent invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya amongst others (post 9/11) has only sought to reinforce widespread negative sentiment and deep seated hatred of a telling degree amongst the Muslim world. In an attempt to usher in a sustained stability, the USA’s zealousness has often spawned further discontent, reprobation and instability in these regions. The best motives are often defeated in the absence of perceptible support and execution. Thus, with the seeds of hatred already germinating in the psyches of scores of impressionable denizens across the Muslim world, the USA is failing in its bid to forge a steady alliance, despite its best efforts.
The situation is so grave that even one of its biggest allies in Pakistan has witnessed large scale protests and attempted assaults on diplomatic setups. A recent survey revealed that almost 49 percent of Pakistan’s populace believes that the Americans are their biggest enemy. For a nation already teetering on the edge of socio-economic and political collapse, this certainly doesn’t augur well for the USA. No amount of financial or military aid maybe enough to assuage the irate common man. In fact, many view this as an attempt to “bribe” the Pakistani establishment into keeping the masses subjugated. There is a tangible sense of distrust, insecurity and paranoia with regards to the Americans’ growing presence and involvement in the subcontinent and the Muslim world at large. All this will do, is further add fuel to the fire, propagating insurgency in an attempt to undermine the alleged American agenda. This proves to be a deleterious scenario that continues to descend into the morass of greater violence, for all parties concerned.
The need of the hour for the USA at this juncture in time is to tread a path of caution and refrain from embracing aggression as a counter measure as that would only further alienate them and in turn aggravate an already tenuous situation. The fact that many Islamic states have struggled to contain the implications of this mass unrest is also telling and perhaps demands an altered diplomatic approach. Whether the USA is able to mend its disintegrating relationship with the Muslim world remains to be seen. However, what can be said with an overwhelming vote of certitude is that this growing unrest against the American establishment fuelled by a coterie of collective factors will only continue to escalate in the absence of any calibrated ‘proactivism’.
About the author: The Writer is a Business student with a degree from NMIMS, Mumbai. He is presently working as a Senior Executive with a leading Public Relations firm in Mumbai. Through his writing; he attempts to address myriad issues of both domestic and global consequence, ranging from Business and Economics to Geopolitics…from Sports to Arts and Culture. He has over 200 publications to his credit in some of the leading national dailies and weekly magazines across the country. He is also a keen debater, munner, quizzer, painter and amateur freestyle rapper. His other interests include Sports, Music, Reading, Travelling and Social Entrepreneurship. For his latest postings, follow his blog . To read his other posts, click here.Â