By Nour Eddin Omar | 2024-05-20

Strategic partnerships between the United States and its allies have helped to stamp out the extremist ideology of al-Qaeda through military means but also by ensuring the prosperity of US partner nations, experts told Al-Fassel.

In the Middle East, these partnerships have been "highly instrumental in eliminating terrorist threats, eradicating extremist groups and preventing their spread," King Abdulaziz University lecturer Faisal al-Khawaldi told Al-Fassel.

Partnerships with the United States "are not solely based on military cooperation and providing partners with modern military technologies but are also built on strategic foundations," he said.

The United States works to combat terrorist ideology and fund development projects at all levels that secure prosperity for these countries and thus for their people, al-Khawaldi said.

This approach was used in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, for example, to counter the spread of al-Qaeda's ideology and end its presence on the ground, he added.

He noted that al-Qaeda has failed to bring about any development or prosperity in the areas it has controlled or sought to control.

"On the contrary, it brought about killing, poverty and displacement to all the regions in which it had a presence," he said.

Al-Qaeda 'gave nothing'

Since its emergence, al-Qaeda "gave nothing to the residents of the areas in which it had a presence or carried out terrorist attacks but death, destruction, poverty, illiteracy and ignorance," said terror group expert Yahya Mohammed Ali.

"This was the approach adopted by al-Qaeda and all the groups that branched out from it under different names," he told Al-Fassel.

"Spreading terror and ignorance was the primary tool used to suppress civil societies and force them to submit, which destroyed the minds of many generations," he said.

US partnerships with allied countries and groups take different forms.

In Saudi Arabia, the flow of investments has ensured scientific progress as well as economic success, he said.

In Syria, the United States has provided financial support to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Kurdish autonomous administration, helping to revive civil institutions and create job opportunities.

This is done by supporting productive sectors and building infrastructure, "in addition to repairing and building hospitals, schools and other sectors that secure a decent life," he said.

The partnership has turned northeast Syria -- once a breeding ground for extremism -- into a terrorism-resistant area, he said.