Imam says "As it is clear that the cartoons are to be published again, Muslims will be hurt and angered, but our reaction must be a reflection of the teachings of the one we love & are angered for. Enduring patience, tolerance, gentleness and mercy was the character of our beloved Prophet."

Hey so I just logged in to reply to your question. I'm gonna preface by saying you are correct in thinking the people actually engaged in the acts of terror are doing so out of religious fanaticism, and there are other people behind the scenes with political motivation.

When people allude to political motivations pertaining to al-qaeda, what they are referencing (in the specific context of al-qaeda/Taliban) are the politics between pakistan and india. I think this got talked about some around the time the US invaded afghanistan, and that's where everyone is getting this idea of politics being involved from.

So basically, there are tensions between India and Pakistan. India is a long time ally of the US. After 9/11, when it came to light that the Taliban were involved with Al-Qaeda, with the training camps and so forth, the US said, 'Either you are our ally in fighting this enemy, or you are our enemy'. So Pakistan said okay and the US and Pakistan became allies on paper.

Here's where it gets complicated: Pakistan's intelligence agency has been supporting the Taliban political group because they had control over a region known as Pashtunistan, a swath of land that stradles the border between Afganistan and Pakistan. It's primarily occupied by the ethnic group known as the Pashtuns (Pashtunistan literally translates to 'land of the Pashtuns') a tribal culture that live by a form of tribal traditions similiar to and inconjunction with sharia law known as Pashtunwali. During the cold war, Osama bin Ladin and a group of arabs came to the Kashmir mountains to help the muhajadeen fighters (translated to freedom fighters) fight off the soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The Muhajadeen were backed by the CIA. Whoops. Cold war ends, CIA no longer has any interest in the area and they leave. Osama bin ladin and his followers are left to incubate.

Meanwhile, tensions are high between Pakistan and India. At some point in the 60s the Pakistanis were discussing making Paktunistan a thing. It was what the people living in this region wanted, and backing drawing these political lines would ally Pakistan to Paktunistan. It had the benifit of land to retreat back into should India invade, and a well of tribal warlords and men to fight. The Soviets invade and buggers that up and it the discussion of Paktunistan gets put on the back burner. Then after the cold war, Pakistan's intelligence agency goes about aiding and supporting the Taliban and their political ambitions (re: make Paktunistan a thing) incidentally, islamic extremism happens to benefit this mutual ambition of Pakistan and the Taliban, because it strengthens the people's sentiments against India and gives the Pashtuns a reason to want to fight India. It primes them to fight and fight viciously. Al-Qaeda stages terror attacks against India.

So all of this is going on and suddenly its 2001 and the US steps in with a big fucking stick. Pakistan is caught between sacrificing the strategic advantage of having the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in their back pocket and giving India the perfect excuse to invade with US support.

Now, coalition troops have basically tamped out Al-Qaeda and kicked the Taliban from power on the Afghanistan side of the Paktunistan region, but the insurgents run up into the mountains on the Pakistan side, regroup, and go back to fighting. It's a mess but it's also about not letting al-qaeda get a foothold and regain control of the region. It's sort of like taking the cheese out of a mouse trap and keeping the trap from springing with your finger.

So there you have it. Obviously, the Middle East is a very complex region with lots of moving parts, so the politics surrounding islamic extremism in Iraq or Syria are obviously going to be different.

/r/worldnews Thread Link - cnn.com