SMOKERS’ CORNER: GEOPOLITICS OF THE PULPIT

The history of Western engagement in the Middle East and South Asia reveals a pattern in which radical Islamist movements were frequently used as strategic assets against secular or leftist rivals. The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) involvement in the 1953 coup against prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran is now well-documented. The CIA coordinated with influential clerics, such as Ayatollah Kashani, to incite religious opposition against the Mosaddegh regime. Mosaddegh had national...

By [email protected] (Nadeem F. Paracha)