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Saudi-Pakistani Cooperation Against Terrorism and the Problem of Salafi-Wahhabism

(Daily Times-Pakistan) Editorial - Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have apparently decided to cooperate with each other in eradicating terrorism. However, much of what we are witnessing today in terms of the radical Salafi threat is the doing of the House of Saud itself. Before any of the radicals came online and began to threaten Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world, it was the Saudi monarchy that upheld - and still does - the banner of Wahhabism. When it mated with the radical elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, conservative Wahhabism gave birth to radical Salafism. This Salafism was tempered in the jihadi fires of Afghanistan and spread through the global networks of the Islamist International that came to fight in Afghanistan. Even so, the Saudi monarchy kept funding Wahhabi causes throughout the Muslim world. We do not see many signs that the monarchy, while being alive to the danger of radical Salafism, is in the process of doing anything substantial to strike at the roots of this phenomenon.
2004-07-28 00:00:00
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