What is the Green Belt Project to be implemented in the Middle East and Turkey?
The Green Belt Project is the practical embodiment of the US policy of containment that was put into effect in the 1970s under President Carter.
During the Cold War, the struggle for geopolitical influence between the US and the USSR, the two most powerful states of the bipolar system, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, gained momentum. In the Middle East, the Soviet Union utilised socialist ideology to generate social mobilisation. In many places, leftist movements interacted with the Soviet Union. The advancement of the Soviet Union in the region threatened the presence of the United States of America in the region. When it was realised that the capitalist discourse of the United States was not effective against the leftist ideology in the region, the idea of using religious motives as an ideological tool in the fight against leftist ideology came to the fore.
In order to prevent Soviet expansionism in the Middle East in particular and in the Islamic world in general, the USA implemented the policy of encircling the USSR. In this context, Islamic countries were supported with military and economic aid against the expansionism of the Soviet regime and tried to protect them from being under the pressure of communism.
In reality, the Green Belt Project is the hypothetical project used to express the US's use of Islam as a means of defence against communism since the Jimmy Carter era. Jimmy Carter's anti-USSR policies are officially known as the Carter Doctrine, although there is no project with this name officially announced by the US.
The Green Belt Project is the practical embodiment of the US policy of containment that was put into effect in the 1970s under President Carter.
This project, which was based on the view that the Islamic world could be a shield against communism due to communism's rejection of religion and the harsh and strict face of Islam, became a reality with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. For this reason, the US trained and armed jihadist groups in Afghanistan who wanted to fight against the Soviets. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which were in serious competition with the Soviets, also supported this US project.
The project was first implemented in Afghanistan, and later on it was also tried in Middle Eastern countries and Muslim-majority countries such as Turkey. During the USSR's intervention in Afghanistan, mujahideen forces were organised under the auspices of the CIA and Pakistan, while on the other hand, the heroin obtained from the poppy cultivated in Afghanistan was allowed to enter the world market and the income obtained in this way was intended to be used against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Intensive arms sales were made to Afghan groups to launch counter-attacks and these groups were trained in military camps in Pakistan.
On the other hand, the CIA, a critical element of the project, not only supplied weapons and equipment to the Afghan mujahideen, but also provided them with training in terrorism and sabotage. This training included the use of chemical and electronic timing devices, bomb-making, satellite communications and the use of the Internet.
Mujahideen were also trained in the use of western anti-aircraft systems. Among these systems, the Swiss-made Oerlikon and British-made Blowpipe missiles (MANPADS, a surface-to-air missile) stand out. In addition, one of the most important forms of support provided by the CIA to the mujahideen was to provide them with knowledge and skills in the field of satellite communications. Satellite communications has been a critical tool to improve coordination and speed up the exchange of information. Thus, the CIA's support to the Afghan mujahideen was not limited to weapons and equipment, but also included technological and strategic advantages.
It has been claimed that this project laid the foundations for religious extremist organisations such as the Taliban and official ideologies such as the Turkish-Islamic synthesis. On 15 July 2016, FETÖ attempted a coup d'état in Turkey and was described by former Undersecretary of National Intelligence Service Atasagun as ‘Gülen is the green belt project of the USA’. You know him (Fetullah Gülen), he was a pillar of the US green belt project. That is still the case. The US also created Bin Laden, nurtured him against the Russians in Afghanistan, and you saw the result. This is an indication of what will happen in the end if you feed a terrorist organisation. By making a statement with his words; he explained the Green Belt project for Turkey and its content.
The Birth of the Green Belt Project
With the beginning of the Cold War period, a new global and regional race / war started between the USA and the Soviet Union. While the Soviet Union supported local nationalist groups that were anti-American / Westernist / independenceist in order to increase its influence in the Islamic geography, the US, on the other hand, found it in its foreign policy interests to work with Islamist groups in order to neutralise the Soviet Union and increase its own influence.
The Soviet Union's intervention in Afghanistan in 1979, or the Soviet-Afghan War, was a protracted armed conflict in the Soviet-controlled Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) that lasted from 1979 to 1989.
In 1979, both the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Islamic Revolution in Iran (11 February 1979) profoundly affected US relations with the Islamic world. The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and the invasion of Afghanistan caused significant changes in the geopolitics of the region and gained a strategic value in addition to the natural resources of the Islamic geography. Upon the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, the United States launched the Green Belt Project in order to ‘contain’ the Soviet Union and ‘prevent it from going south’.
With the Green Belt Project, the US has chosen to utilise Islam and Muslims. In this context, by supporting the radical/jihadist discourse of Islam, the US emphasised that jihad was a duty ‘neglected’ by Muslims for years. The invasion of Afghanistan was considered to be a very good opportunity for Muslims to fulfil their duty that they had neglected for years.
Because according to the USA, the Soviet Union was ‘Godless’, ‘Atheist’, ‘Godless’ and ‘Evil Empire’ and this Soviet Empire had invaded Afghanistan, a Muslim country. There was no better opportunity for Muslims to fulfil their ‘neglected duty’.
The US marketed this initiative of the Soviet Union, which it considered very dangerous for its own foreign policy interests, very well to the Muslims and chose to deal with the conflict/war with the Soviet Union through proxy fighters rather than directly intervening itself. For this reason, the best source it resorted to was different sects.
The US started to support Islamist groups against both the Soviet Union and the pro-Soviet Union and anti-Western/independenceist local nationalists by emphasising political Islam. As can be seen from this situation, this is how the US put into practice its way of using religion as an instrument of its dominant politics in the Middle East.
The US has started to implement these practices by emphasising Christianity in its domestic policy and by supporting the ‘jihadist’ interpretation of Islam in the Islamic geography. During the Cold War period, the USA, which considered it appropriate for its foreign policy interests to fight against the Soviet Union ‘by any means necessary’, chose the ‘jihadist’ interpretation of Islam and ‘jihadists’ as the most appropriate means for this purpose.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, which divided East Germany and West Germany into two parts, heralded the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Within a year, 15 states emerged on the territory of the USSR. The fact that Russia, the most powerful of these states, claimed to be the heir of the USSR did not prevent the dissolution of the so-called ‘Eastern Bloc’. As a result of these developments, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, which was established against NATO, upset the bipolar balance in the world. When the US loosened the Green Belt Project, which it had initiated against the Communist threat posed by the USSR and which it had nurtured and nurtured for years, Islamist militant groups began to spiral out of control.
This situation also paved the way for sectarian wars through proxies in the Middle East.
In this context, different sects emphasising the radical/jihadist interpretation of Islam and ‘Muslim fighters’ acting accordingly were formed. The most important of these were the Taliban and ISIS. The Islamic geography was then divided into different sects. Muslims recruited from Europe and America were trained religiously/ideologically and militarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight against the Soviet Union, which was defined as the ‘Empire of Evil’. Armed for these purposes, Muslims began to fight both among themselves and with each other with weapons.
The USA and the Soviet Union, the two opposing superpowers of the Cold War era, also avoided direct confrontation in their struggle in the region. They conducted their struggle through ‘proxy wars’. These proxies were Political Islam for the USA and the Wagner group for Russia. Political Islam received great support in the Middle East in this struggle of the USA, and again in this period, global power emerged as a product of modern times, rather than an internal Islam/Muslim conflict. In short, it is possible to say that political Islam was one of the products of the US strategy to win the Cold War.
In addition to these issues, Donald Trump, the Presidential Candidate of the Republican Party, described former President Barack Obama as the ‘founder of ISIS’ and his rival Hillary Clinton, the Candidate of the Democratic Party, as the ‘co-founder of ISIS’ at a rally in Florida on 10 August 2016. The next day, Trump stood by his words and described Obama and Clinton as ISIS' “most valuable players”.
The Cold War between the two superpowers was a war of values/ideologies and proxy wars, far from direct hot conflicts. The US did not refrain from using all means to ensure that Afghanistan became the Vietnam of the Soviet Union.
This war has a very important aim for the USA and this aim is to destroy the Soviet Union. Of course, although the main focus was on Afghanistan, the struggle against the Soviet Union was not limited to Afghanistan. Muslims from all over the Islamic geography, and even from the USA and Europe, were recruited, ideologically trained and driven to fight on the front lines against the Soviet Union. In a sense, people from the Islamic world were ‘recruited’ to fight against the ‘godless regime’.
Thus, an international jihadist group was formed and they were called ‘mujahideen’. In other words, they were called and recognised as ‘those who fight in the name of Allah’. In this way, the USA successfully waged its struggle against the Soviet Union through Muslims.
The US, Pakistan and the Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, made significant contributions to the creation of this structure against the Soviet Union. The USA as the owner of the system, Pakistan as the training and logistic supporter, Saudi Arabia as the financial backer, and Muslims as the fighters helped to create the ‘Green Belt’.
The main objective of the Green Belt Project is to prevent the spread of communism and to protect the interests of the USA in the region. For this purpose, the US organised mujahideen forces under the auspices of the CIA and Pakistan against the USSR's intervention in Afghanistan, and provided them with weapons, training and material support. The poppy cultivated in Afghanistan was allowed to be sold on the world market as heroin and the proceeds were intended to be used against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. In this process, radical religious organisations such as the Taliban and ISIS emerged among the mujahideen supported by the US.
The Green Belt Project was not limited to Afghanistan, but was also implemented in other Middle Eastern countries. The US supported Islamic movements in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt, which are its allies in the region, and provided them with arms and money. Islamic movements in these countries fought against both their own governments and the USSR. For example, in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood organisation revolted against both the Nasser and Sadat regimes, while in Saudi Arabia, the Wahhabi movement opposed both Shiite and Western movements.
The reflections of the Green Belt Project in Turkey became more evident after the coup d'état of 12 September 1980. The coup government adopted an ideology called Turkish-Islamic synthesis, weakened the principle of secularism, popularised religious education and opened space for religious communities and sects. In this process, with the support of the US, the influence of religious leaders such as Fethullah Gülen increased, and the schools, foundations and media organisations established by them became widespread in society. In addition, the Kurdish problem was also tried to be Islamised, and Islamic identity was put forward against Kurdish nationalism.
The results of the Green Belt Project were not favourable for the region and the world. The Islamic movements supported by the US turned against the US in time and became radicalised by organising terrorist acts. For example, al-Qaeda, although it emerged from the mujahideen supported by the US in Afghanistan, carried out a major terrorist act such as the 11 September 2001 attacks.
The US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan also created a new environment of chaos in the region, leading to the emergence of new terrorist organisations such as ISIS. In Turkey, the strengthening of religious structures has led to the erosion of the principle of secularism, social polarisation and the decline of democracy.
Conclusion
During the Cold War period, Islamist movements, supported by the imperialist powers within the framework of ‘anti-communism’ propaganda, experienced a significant growth and expansion process. Especially in the 1970s, the ‘Green Belt’ project implemented by US imperialism contributed significantly to the massification and strengthening of Islamist movements. The main aim of this project was to organise Muslim jihadists against the Soviet threat, and these efforts were implemented with the support of anti-Soviet powers such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan accelerated the implementation of the Green Belt project, and within this framework, Muslim jihadist groups were at the forefront of the resistance against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. This process led to a reshaping of the balance of power in the region and the US utilised Islamist groups as a strategic tool in its struggle against the Soviet Union.
Muslims from various geographies were recruited, ideologically trained and joined the struggle against the Soviets. The formation of these jihadist groups enabled the United States to effectively wage its struggle against the Soviet Union. The US waged its main struggle against the Soviets through proxy fighters, which can be seen as a kind of attrition strategy for the Soviets. Jihadists recruited from the Islamic geography fought effectively against the Soviet Union in line with US expectations. At the end of the ten-year war, the Soviet Union was forced to withdraw from Afghanistan in 1989.
Moreover, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union suffered great losses and de facto disintegrated in the following period. This was an important turning point in the balance of power during the Cold War.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union marked an important turning point in world politics with the end of the Cold War. In this period, the foreign policy strategies pursued by the United States and especially the Green Belt project played a critical role in consolidating the US global hegemony and effectively combating the Soviet threat.
The internal weaknesses and economic difficulties that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union can be considered as a result of the containment policies and anti-communist strategies pursued by the US for years.
In this process, countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the strategic partners of the US in the region, have also played important roles. Pakistan, as one of the US allies in the region, provided training and logistical support to the jihadist groups. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, provided significant support to the project by utilising its financial resources. The contributions of these countries increased the effectiveness of the US proxy wars against the Soviet Union and played an important role in the success of the project.
In the US struggle against the Soviet Union, proxy wars were a factor that depleted the Soviet Union's economic and military resources and ultimately led to its collapse. In this process, the close co-operation between the CIA and the Pakistani Intelligence (ISI), especially during the Reagan era, facilitated military and political support for jihadist groups. Thus, the role and influence of jihadist groups in the armed conflicts in the region has gradually increased.
The policies pursued by the US during the Cold War, especially the Green Belt project, contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of a unipolar world order. For this reason, the US and the West wanted to continue to use the radical Islamist groups they had established for their own interests. On the other hand, the support given to radical Islamist groups in line with the short-term interests of the great powers has also led to an increase in regional instability and insecurity. The recent Israeli bombing of Gaza and human rights violations turning the Middle East into a sea of fire, as well as the lack of reaction or weak reaction of Islamic countries are the most important proof of this situation.
Green belt activities have also led to the spread of conflict and terrorism, especially in the Middle East and in the regions where people who believe in the Islamic religion are located. Especially in the context of globalisation, the international community has been faced with a more dynamic security environment as radical groups have become (transnational) organisations that cannot be controlled or have gained the ability to act independently.
President TRUMP's statement that ISIS was founded by the US and that Obama founded ISIS, which terrorises and massacres thousands of people in the Middle East in the name of Islam, best explains who planned and put into practice the Green Belt and related sectarian wars in the Muslim geography.
The long-term effects of these strategies, especially in the Middle East region, should be taken into consideration. This is important to maintain the balance between short-term gains and long-term stability. In addition, it should never be forgotten that after the unipolar world order, radical religious groups can continue to be used by the superpowers against each other in the multipolar world order.
Especially in this period when the New World Order is being discussed after the pandemic, the emergence of China, Russia and India as new playmakers points to a period in which all kinds of religions, beliefs and identities will be used. The trade relations that China has developed with the Middle East, Africa and Europe, and the breakthroughs it has made in technology are now forcing the USA and affiliated countries to respond seriously.
It is likely that this ring of fire will envelop the Asian and African countries that are structuring under the name of BRICS, as well as the Turkic states in a short period of time.
To sum up; the Green Belt Project is an unofficially unacknowledged project that refers to the US's use of Islam as a defence against communism. This project, which started in Afghanistan and spread to Middle Eastern countries, Africa and Turkey, paved the way for religious structures, especially sects, whose activities became visible as a show of power in everyday life and increased their influence in societies through events such as large migrations.
References
1. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/406599
2. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/3868842
