By P. Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
A former Malaysian prime minister has held the United States responsible for the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), comparing it to the country’s alleged influence in the formation of the Taliban to fight Russia in Afghanistan.
"Where did they [ISIL] come from? Just like the Taliban, they were created by the United States of America," Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said in a blog post Monday.
The 89-year-old former statesman argued that the U.S. had provided Sunni rebels in Syria military and financial support upon seeing an opportunity to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad since "the Americans fear the rise of the Shiites, the Islamic sect that is most against the West."
He claimed that militants eventually crossed into Iraq to overthrow the Shiite government there.
Referring to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Mahathir criticized the U.S. for not learning from its past strategies: "After ten years of costly wars in these countries they have succeeded only in putting in place extremist Muslim governments. They are now unable to extricate themselves from these two countries."
He blamed U.S. involvement in the Middle East for the reported beheading of American journalists by ISIL.
Calling Americans "naive" for thinking that U.S. policy would spearhead the creation of friendlier democratic governments, he said decades of "support for Israel and anti-Islamic policies have made anti-American Islamic parties popular" -- cautioning that "anti-Americanism will be even more violent" once elections are held in the region following demoralization.
Mahathir also warned that the vision of a Sunni caliphate in the region would endanger U.S. and Israeli interests, resulting in the U.S. realizing that "overthrowing Bashar is not such a good idea."
According to him, the U.S. should instead ally with Syria against the fighters "from Europe now flocking to join the Sunni Islamic State forces to overthrow the governments of Iraq and Syria."
The U.S. Embassy in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur declined to comment when asked about Mahathir’s comments.
However, an embassy spokesperson, who spoke to The Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release statements, said that every person is entitled for their own opinion, which does not necessarily constitute the truth.
The spokesperson added that the embassy does not wish to release any statements on the matter.
ISIL has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, declaring what it calls a cross-border Islamic "caliphate."
Violence conducted by ISIL has claimed more than 1,400 lives in August alone, and caused 1.2 million Iraqis -- including Turkmen, Arabs, Christians and Ezidis -- to flee their homes.
www.aa.com.tr/en
