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A Book Review on The World After 9/11

A Review of “The World after 9/11”

Ahmad Reza Taheri
Research (PhD) student in Political Science

Terrorism is not something new, it has been existed before in different forms. Actually, since the early 1990s ethnic-religious conflicts and terrorist activities have increased in number, that is exactly what which today has become a more dangerous, more complex, and more uncontrollable phenomenon. Recent events such as Iraq’s daily bomb blasts by suicide bombers can be taken as a clear example. In spite of USA’s active presence and its control over the country, one can still witness daily murder of citizen’s, foreigners, and US troops. And now situation in Iraq is so intense that concerned officials have no idea whether they would be able to manage the country or not.
The “World after Sep 11”, consisted of ten articles written by different Pakistani scholars who have conducted a valuable research on interrelated issues about 9/11 and its aftermath. It’s a sort of Pakistani and Muslim perspective. Forward and Introduction are the first parts of the book in which an introductory information about 9/11 and its aftermath provided, as well as, a short introduction on each article and then acknowledgment. This book has mainly focused on terrorism, and definitional complexities. Authors on the whole believe that a universally acceptable definition about terrorism does not exist, because each state has its own view on terrorism.
In the first paper, Moonis Ahmar argues that even before 9/11 terrorism was exist in both forms as: Challenge and opportunity, because the growth and spread of violence against innocent people tend to call for more attention on the part of policy makers to deal with a situation in which the conflict escalation resulted into massive loss of human lives. Here six important realities, while discussing the fears and concerns of terrorism in the pre and post 9/11 periods have been mentioned as follows: (1) Both USSR and USA were involved in ideological terrorism during the cold war. These two states were involved in acts of terror, and unwarranted use of force like, overthrow of governments and assassinations. (2) During the war of National liberation (1950s, 1960s, 1970s), though innocent people were killed, but the purpose of liberation Movement was to fight for social justice and not to use people as a shield or a hostage. (3) State sponsored terrorism is an undeniable fact, because of the resources. Both Pakistan and India accusing one another of supporting terrorism. (4) West view Islamic extremist groups as the main factor involving in acts of terrorism. Extremist groups provided adequate reason for the USA to dipict the entire Muslim community responsible for promoting terrorism. (5) Islamic extremist groups justified their violence acts against Non-Muslim on grounds that Muslims are a victim of colossal discrimination and they have no option but to retaliate. (6) The western media and centers of power are projecting threat perception on terrorism supported by the Muslims.
A lot of vested interests are involved in creating fears in the west about the threat of terrorism which is seen as Islamic centric. Author in fact has taken a constructive view and is of the opinion that the terrorist acts such as 9/11 was in the name of Jihad, and against Islamic code, and this misconception that US war on terrorism reflects a clash between Islam and Christianity must be removed. Well, after the 9/11 the widespread debate on terrorism tended to open new challenges and opportunities. For the USA and many western countries the event of 9/11 pose a great challenge not only to their hold over global affairs but also to their culture and civilization, but these challenges give them an opportunity to unleash the process of dialogue and better understanding with the Muslims, and brought once again Americans and allies in the region where huge natural resources are spread. For South Asia, the biggest challenge after 9/11 is the worsening of relations between India and Pakistan, and the failure of SAARC to provide a leadership role so that deal with the challenge of terrorism. For Pakistan, being as a front line state by becoming an important ally of the USA; domestic opposition; India’s attempt to compel the US and international community to declare Pakistan a terrorist state; and threat of war with India after the Indian Parliament attack in Dec/2001 are important challenges. Though economic assistance and removal of sanctions are two important opportunities for Pakistan, nevertheless, domestic opposition was a great threat to the regime of Musharaf. Preventing terrorism is the need of hour, but unfortunately, instead of that, the focus of U.S. led war against terrorism has been combating. “As far as the question of meeting challenges and seizing of opportunities for a better world after 9/11 is concerned it all depends on the role of non U.S. powers like: EU, Russia, China, India, and Japan. If these powers exert substantial pressure over U.S. to review its hard line approach on Iraq, open support to Israel and war against terrorism. Then there is a possibility of preventing a major disorder in the world.” (p.38).
Ross M. Hussain’s paper basically deals with the concept of terrorism. What is terrorism? Most experts hold the idea that terrorism is use or the thereat of use of violence, as method of combat or strategy to achieve certain goals. However, agreement on an acceptable definition of terrorism still does not exist and there is no reason to assume that there will be one in the foreseeable future. Author believes that today state-sponsored terrorism is more dangerous and frequent than in the past, and weak bureaucracy and corrupt administration help to create an environment at which determined groups or individuals are encouraged to use of illegal and unfair methods to overthrow their targets and bring about their own way of administration. Terrorism would certainly persists in the future and large scale incidents will become more common. Following factors may lead to increased terrorist activities in the future as: growth of membership in racist groups; rise of religious fanaticism; decline in police intelligence activities; government failure in protecting public safety; and economic and social injustice. The future target of terrorism will be the same ones as today, for instance: political leaders, symbols of nations, airlines etc.They attack soft targets and therefore have unlimited range of targets. But, terrorism would probably not enter the mind-boggling world of high technology and mass destruction. Although, the total elimination of terrorism may not be possible, but it can be reduced to some manageable levels and that can be achieve, if international community join hands to develop a prompt and credible response to reduce the terrorist threat.
Pervais Iqbal. C has divided his paper into four sections. The first section deals with the definitional complexities of terrorism: Terrorism is a strategy used by individuals, groups and states for different purposes, and each leader views terrorism from his own point of view, for example: to George Bush terrorism may mean: use of violence against the Americans by the extremist. To Vajpayee, it may mean: Pakistan sponsored infiltration of terrorists into the Indian Held Kashmir. To Sharon it may mean: the suicide attacks in Israel by the Palestinians, and to Pakistanis it may mean: what the Indian security forces are doing in the Indian Held Kashmir. Three main categories of terrorism which are universally recognized are: 1) Individual (a) Estranged individual (b) trained individual. (2) Sub-national group: they belong to a particular school of thought. (3) State terrorism: State acts against any particular group and it feels justified to undertake such an action in the greater national interest. Section two discusses about differences between the freedom struggles and terrorist activities, and tries to probe into the issue that why an individual becomes a terrorist: who is a freedom fighter and who is terrorist depends on whose point of view one looking at. Here, the author criticized India, Israel and Russia who practice terrorism in Kashmir, Palestine and Chechnya. These states are involved in some form of state terrorism, killing innocent people on the pretext that they are eliminating only terrorists. He views Kashmiris, Palestinians, and Chechens as freedom fighter and tries to demonstrate that terrorism is acted even by democracies like: India, Russia, Israel etc.A terrorist views violent approach as the most effective way to air his point of view. The third section of the paper, attempts to theoretically discuss the political impact on both internal as well as external situations: terrorist activities not only generate insecurity but also influence the economic developments badly. “the impact of terrorism on the global system have manifested in following different ways, as under: preference for unilateral approaches; promoting the notion of preemptive use of force; and surfacing of the hidden agenda such as: right of intervention”. (p. 68). The fourth section tries to cover the impact of all these developments upon Pakistan with special focus on Pakistan’s relations with U.S, India, and Afghanistan. With USA, Pakistan experienced many ups and downs. Despite domestic opposition, Pakistan decided to join U.S. in the best national interest, which this brought both advantage and disadvantage: in terms of advantage, almost all types of sanctions were lifted, and in terms of disadvantage many people and groups turned against the rulers. Regarding Pak-Afghan policy, Pakistan undertook a dramatic U-turn, because Taliban failed to cooperate (to handover Bin Laden). Regarding Pakistan-India relations, prior to 9/11 some positive efforts were seen to resolve outstanding issues, but after 9/11 circumstances got worse. The author is more critical of India and believes that India is always on an outlook to damage Pakistan, and Indian agents are active in Pakistan.
Mutahir Ahmed examines the linkage between terrorism and religious extremism. He points out: “The terrorism of militant Islamism has become a subject of concern all over the world and western civilization view this as a threat to themselves, but the supporters of Islamic military view it differently, that is, They criticize Israel occupation of Palestine, Indian occupation of Kashmir, Russia occupation of Chechnya, and U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. And, in order to resolve these issues, they pronounce Jihad as an Islamic way to fight the aggressors”. Jihad has been defined from Koran point of view as: “there is only Jihad for Allaha. Allaha orders Muslims in the Koran to fight for the right of the poor and battle against the atrocities against the Muslims”. Now, what is going on around Muslims in Islamic countries, have made them angry and directionless, and thus, violence is the only way in their view. Secondly, the author has classified Islamic countries into following categories: authoritarian regimes, restricted democracies, traditional monarchies, totalitarian, and semi-democracy. 70 percent of the entire membership or at least 40 members of the OIC are at variance with Koranic prescription. He has concluded that Arab ruling elites have exploited the religious sentiments of the Arab masses and suppressed them politically. Al Qaida and Taliban are the product of anarchy and under such type of organizations, there is no room for healthy democratic debate and freedom of expression in the Muslim world. Such anarchy in any Islamic state is because of rulers and absence of pure Islamic law and there is nothing wrong with Islam. Islam is not against democracy. The only way for Muslims to avoid their dark future is to democratize their systems, in this way they can develop and progress and it is the responsibility of intellectual to come forward and play their due role in society.
Ammara Durrani has taken a non U.S. perspective regarding USA war on terrorism. Terrorism is defined according to FBI as: “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment there of, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” (p.106). In this paper, 9/11attacks, USA attacks on Taliban, and U.S. policy on Iraq for its alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction in order to expand the war on terror with the objective that prevent regimes that sponsor terror, are discussed. In fact, this policy is viewed by china, Russia and Iran as a direct military intervention in the region carrying the risk of serious geo-political implications. U.S. anti terror campaign is not only aimed at the eradication of terrorist and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats, but it also aims at a global spread of American democratic and free market values which in its opinion is the only way to prevent the creation and spread of terrorism. Here, views of different western and non-western scholars about terrorism and U.S. policy have been discussed, and so U.S. has been criticized for its war against Afghanistan. Author has backed up his critique by the help of following factors: 1) American population was against war. 2) worldwide demonstration against U.S. war on terror. 3) most states particularly, U.S. close allies stood against USA war on terror. 4) many human right organizations criticized U.S. policy of war. It is also believed that USA though is a superpower, but it needs the help of its allies in political, military and intelligence fields, and can not go to war alone.
Noman Sattar provides information about American Muslims and their status after 9/11. Muslims in America have been very active in the various fields, but the events of 9/11 brought a tough time for them. Even though, president Bush’s government tried to control the damage by saying that “the Muslim faith is a peaceful faith and this war is not against Islam,“ nevertheless the primary target were Muslims. Then the focus is shifted on Pakistani Muslims in the USA. Pakistani government asserted that Pakistan has played as a frontline state and so U.S. should exempt Pakistanis from registration procedure : “(special registration, a significant development affecting Muslims immigrants after 9/11 has been the issue of special registration : a system that will let the government keep track of non-immigrants that come to the U.S. every year. p:141 ).” But, in the eye of USA, Pakistan has remained part of a group of states whose nationals have directly attacked America and Americans. Well, this paper on the whole believes that the on going war on terrorism has its focus on the Muslims which in the USA has alienated the American Muslims .This policy also has led to anti-Americanism in other part of the Muslim world, and if war continues like that , then this war will alienate The Muslim world from the USA for a long period of time, and would make more Muslims to leave America.
Sridhar K. Khatri’s article is the 7th one. This paper is about understanding and combating terrorism in south Asia. According to him the only comprehensive International definition of terrorism is that of the 1937Convention for the prevention and punishment of terrorism as: “criminal acts directed against a state or intended to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public.”(p.149). One has to understand the terrorist motives and goals. Terrorist may have religious motivation, or may be entrenched in ethnic, tribal or national issues that espouse new course and ideology. They hide among emigrants and refugees and at times are engage in legitimate trade and illicit smuggling of drugs and weapons. About combating terrorism, author has focused on the past and current methods which followed by different countries, for instants: in 1999, the U.S. had allocated $ 10 billion for “unclassified terrorism related program,” and after 9/11 USA established Homeland Security Department, and since then the U.S. government has allocated 58$ billon for homeland defensive and combating terrorism, nevertheless it has failed to deal with it effectively. One of the main reasons of its failure was lack of co-operation among various governmental agencies. Well, overall operation of different countries in war against terrorism has been unsuccessful and still all countries of the world facing difficulties in developing a comprehensive stragey. This paper also provided several studies about how to prevent terrorism. An Indian expert suggested the following approaches: (A) Propaganda, as a way to win the side of the people. (B) Determination, means: authorities should prove that they are powerful enough to punish and prevent terrorism. (C) Establishing law governing terrorism to control and manage it. Another Indian expert suggested the carrot and stick approach. However, despite that, there are difficulties in combating terrorism such as: financial aspect: most of the funds come through various sources including smuggling of narcotics. Due to technological developments, terrorists become more sophisticated and the danger of WMD may be used by terrorist is becoming more real. It also should be noted that there are no comprehensive studies on how South Asia countries have death with terrorism and on the whole south Asia has failed to deal with terrorism efficiently.
Naeem Ahmed discusses India–Pak relations after 9/11. This paper has focused on India and Pakistan’s relations and views USA as a mediator who can settle down the differences between these two neighboring states whom were about to wage war for several times due to the minor and major matters, attack on Indian parliament can be taken as an example. Kashmir is a major issue which is going for many years in which both India and Pakistan accusing each other of supporting terrorism in this area. Why Pakistan always supports religious organizations in Kashmir? Author has given his reasons as follows: (1) Pakistan saves large sum of money which could have been spent on the deployment of regular army to keep a live the sprit of Jihad. (2) To engage India in a non–regular proxy war where India has to spend a large sum of money to suppress the insurgency. Well, he believes that these organizations (non–state actors) though want to capture Kashmir, but it’s impossible because of changing global trends. Arms race in south Asia: missile tests by both India and Pakistan is another worrying factor that has aggravated the situation, and falling of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons into the hands of non-state actors particularly terrorists is one of the most important threats. This paper also adds that U.S. war on international terrorism has provided a justification to other powerful states to use their power against weak states without UN’s approval, for instance: India considers Pakistan a fit case for pre-emptive action because according to India: Pakistan possessed of WMD, shelter terrorists and lacks democracy. Author, actually has criticized both parties for not being able to solve their differences, and believes that U.S direct physical involvement in South Asia has provided an opportunity to both India and Pakistan to pave a way for normalizing their relations. Thus, USA should influence both countries to have negotiation over mutual concerns and for that it should set out following modalities: India should be more flexible; Pakistan should disassociate itself from the elements fighting in Kashmir in the name of religion; and Kashmiries should be allowed to take part when the environment is appropriate for discussion on the Kashmir. At the end, he adds that the violence should not be used and non-violence methods must be used.
Nausheen Wasi has divided her paper into two parts. Part one deals with the SAARC’s perspective on terrorism in theoretical framework, that SAARC has very effectively dealt with the issue of terrorism as far as theory is concerned in the post 9/11 period. Part two explores whether the effective planning has been transferred into action, which this indicates that SAARC was weak in practice. Why it failed? Because, member countries have different attitudes and approaches for instance: countries like India and Pakistan instead of cooperating and combating terrorism,each side blaming one another for harboring and abetting terrorists, and same is the case with other members though not with that intensity. Therefore, the SAARC role in fighting terrorism was unsuccessful in practice. The author has given some suggestions so that SAARC may undertake and act, there are: 1) The SAARC secretary-general should be granted due responsibility to reactive the organization. 2) Democratic institutions in the SAARC countries and the SAARC structure itself should be reformed. Decisions taken by highest authority must be put into action. 3) Technical committees should be set up by SAARC to force leaders to take concrete measures. 4) Dialogue among members at different levels like workshops: ”Regional Center for Strategic Studies.” 5) Visit of scholars and so on should be organized. Shahid Hassan Siddiqui’s article titled “Economic predicament of Pakistan after 9/11.”
This last paper has focused on those factors that affected Pakistan’s economy. Well, Pakistan’s role in war against terrorism caused removal of sanctions. Within few weeks, most of the sanctions were lifted, and Pakistan received economic aid provided by USA to avert the economic crisis in the country as a result of anticipated demonstrations and not for the revival of the economy. According to Pakistan’s finance minister: “ On the whole the events of 9/11 cost Pakistan more than 2 billion $” (p.222). And according to the studies conducted in DEC 2001: “ The GDP loss could be up to Rs 140 billion” (p.223). The total foreign exchange reserves including those held by commercial banks on Sept 11 2001 were $ 3.38 billon and after 9/11 foreign exchange inflow through banking channel has brought some positive factors to the country’s economy. The investment climate was already weak and deteriorated further in post 9/11 era with the result that investment-GDP ratio declined to 13.9% in FY02, which is the lowest in last over one decade. Here, the author has pointed those factors that disturbed the economy situation of Pakistan, as follows: tension with India on International borders; financial terrorism; privatization which has led to corruption and have increased unemployment; Pakistan’s nuclear program creating uncertainties resulting in further spoiling the investment climate; war on Iraq would have serious negative implication for the economy of Pakistan due to higher oil prices; lack of effective cooperation and efficient management within the government; and lack of confidence between government and investors. Author is of the opinion that though Pakistan received economic assistance and economy gained significantly in post 9/11 era, but most of these gains are not sustainable. Weak law and order mainly due to Pakistan’s role as front line state and the lack of confidence between State and its domestic and oversea investors continue to have negative impact in foreseeable future. The author has recommended that Pakistan’s role in combating terrorism has provided a good opportunity for taking revolutionary measures for reviving the economy. Pakistan should reduce the unproductive expenses, call for domestic and oversea Pakistani investors, privatization program should be differed and a commission appointed to look into various last privatization programs and corruption must be removed, because it is among the main factors which prevent economic development.
In conclusion, scholars presented a comprehensive work about 9/11 and terrorism in great depth. Methods and suggestions regarding combating and preventing terrorism are valuable provided these theories should be transformed into action. However, this book mostly has focused on what has happened after 9/11 and fails to foresee any remarkable hypothesis concerning U.S. long term policies in the Asia . Here I would like to criticize Mutahir Ahmed’s statement whom has mentioned in the fourth paper of the book that: “AL Qaida or Taliban are the product of anarchy.” Actually, he believes that: “such anarchy in any Islamic state is because of rulers and absence of pure Islamic law and there is nothing wrong with Islam, and further, he pointed that the only way for Muslims to avoid their dark future is to democratize their systems. In this way they can develop, and it is the responsibility of intellectual to come forward and play their due role in society.”
Well, at first, we should accept this reality that Taliban was much nearer and closer to Islam than any other state, take an example of Pakistan itself (compare Pakistan with Taliban). Because if one studies holy Koran carefully then he/she would come to know that Taliban was the only regime who followed those holy verses of the Koran to a great extent, however not fully. Secondly, regarding Islamic law, Islamic countries not only have real problems, but also basic problems, and finally, intellectual can not go side by side with what the author stated, because a pure Islamic law does not allow that, therefore such type of suggestions would create a sort of clash between intellectuals and Islamic extremist groups.

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