By Salim Mohamed Badat
Yet a closer examination of declassified documents, historical accounts, and geopolitical analysis reveals a far more complex reality. Many of the revolutions, insurgencies, and ideological movements that reshaped the Middle East were not purely indigenous developments.
They were cultivated, guided, and at times engineered by external powers pursuing strategic dominance over the region.
From the Cold War to the present era, Western intelligence agencies and geopolitical strategists repeatedly manipulated religious and political movements.
Within this framework, what became known as “Islamic fundamentalism” was not always a spontaneous religious revival; in several instances, it was cultivated, mobilized, and weaponized as a geopolitical tool.
Enlightenment, Secret Societies, and the Western Project.
The intellectual foundations of modern Western geopolitical expansion trace back to the Enlightenment and the revolutions that followed in America and France.
Secret societies, including the Illuminati, sought to dismantle traditional religious authority, separating church and state under the banner of reason and “liberation from superstition.”
This philosophical transformation laid the groundwork for secularism, humanism, and the global spread of democracy and capitalism. While framed as universal ideals, these concepts were also leveraged as tools of control, justifying imperial wars, economic exploitation, and cultural domination.
The broader strategic vision was clear: weaken traditional religious civilizations and construct a centralized global order governed through economic, military, and ideological supremacy.
British Engineering of Islamist Movements.
Britain, at the height of its imperial power, recognized that direct confrontation with Islamic societies risked unified resistance. Instead, it fostered revivalist movements such as Salafism and Wahhabism.
These movements were encouraged not to empower Muslim societies, but to fragment Islamic unity, create ideological divisions, and cultivate factions susceptible to external influence. Over time, these fractures became the foundation for the systematic manipulation of religion as a geopolitical instrument.
The Afghan Jihad: A CIA Experiment in “Islamic Fundamentalism”.
A clear example of this strategy emerged during the Soviet-Afghan War. Under the banner of resisting Soviet expansion, the United States launched Operation Cyclone, one of the largest covert programs in CIA history.
Billions of dollars flowed through Pakistan’s ISI and Saudi channels to arm, train, and indoctrinate militant groups under the banner of jihad.
Figures such as Osama bin Laden emerged from this environment, demonstrating that what appeared to be a religious struggle was deeply intertwined with global strategic calculations.
As Brzezinski later admitted:
“What was more important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire?”
ISI, Al‑Qaeda, and the Manufacture of Intra‑Muslim Conflict.
Pakistan’s ISI expanded the Afghan network into a transnational system of militant groups.
The Rise of ISIS and the Expansion of Controlled Chaos.
Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the collapse of state institutions allowed extremist networks to evolve. Out of the remnants of Al-Qaeda in Iraq emerged ISIS, which exploited the vacuum to expand transnationally.
Declassified intelligence warned that a “Salafist principality” in Syria could serve strategic objectives, weakening governments aligned with Iran and Russia.
Once again, extremist ideology was weaponized, turning Muslims against each other while avoiding direct confrontation with Israel.
The brutality of ISIS served dual purposes: demonizing Islam globally and justifying permanent Western military presence.
The Arab Spring and the Repeat Playbook.
The Arab Spring of 2011 appeared spontaneous, yet foreign governments and intelligence networks were involved. In Syria and Libya, opposition coalitions were supported, coordinated, and armed to ensure outcomes aligned with broader strategic objectives.
Rather than democratisation, the uprisings produced chaos, intensified sectarian divisions, and dismantled independent states, replicating patterns seen in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Economic Leverage and Oil Power.
Economic strategies reinforced ideological manipulation. Oil crises in the 1970s, alongside Islamic banking institutions linked to political movements, ensured that Middle Eastern economies remained integrated within Western, dominated financial systems. Economic dependency reinforced political influence, giving Western powers control even without direct colonial governance.
The Unraveling of the Web.
For more than a century, a vast geopolitical web was constructed across the Middle East. Intelligence operations, sectarian manipulation, economic dependency, and military alliances combined to ensure Western control. At its center stood Israel as the dominant military power, protected by American bases across the Gulf and surrounding territories.
This architecture relied on allied regimes whose security, economy, and political survival were tied to Washington’s objectives. For decades, it appeared unshakeable.
Yet the present moment has introduced an unprecedented rupture. Iran’s military responses against Israel and its strategic confrontation with U.S. forces have begun to fracture the very center of this structure.
Missile strikes, drone operations, and targeted assaults on American bases across the Gulf signal a direct challenge to the system that has controlled the region for generations.
Iran’s actions are not merely tactical. By striking Israel the center of the geopolitical web, Iran is challenging a centuries-long architecture of deception,pushing back against intelligence networks, proxy militias, and puppet regimes that once divided and weakened the Muslim world.
Its military posture has altered the strategic balance in ways few analysts anticipated.
History repeatedly demonstrates that systems built on manipulation and domination eventually face moments of crisis. When the center of power begins to fracture, the surrounding network can unravel with astonishing speed.
The Quran reminds us of this greater reality:
“They planned, and Allah planned. And Allah is the best of planners.”
(Quran 3:54)
“Indeed they are plotting a plot, but I am planning a plan.”
(Quran 86:15–16)
In this struggle, Iran emerges as the force directly striking at the core of the web. For generations, the network of intelligence operations, proxy forces, and allied regimes was spun to divide, control, and dominate the Muslim world.
Today, Iran has confronted the center, striking Israel, resisting U.S. military pressure, and challenging the architecture of empire itself. If the center continues to fracture, the strands of influence that once stretched across the region, from military bases to political alliances, may collapse like a web torn apart by a hammer’s blow.
If the twentieth century witnessed the weaving of this web, the twenty first century may witness its unraveling. And history teaches that when the center of a web is struck, the strands that once held it together fall away, until the structure itself disappears into history like the empires that built it.
Writer exploring the intersection of faith, politics and justice
