Islamic fundamentalism has been around for a long time but it only became a global threat after being weaponised by the West and Saudi Arabia.
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During the
Cold War following
World War II, some
NATO governments, particularly those of the United States and the United Kingdom, launched covert and overt campaigns to encourage and strengthen fundamentalist groups in the Middle East and southern Asia. These groups were seen as a hedge against potential expansion by the Soviet Union, and as a means to prevent the growth of nationalistic movements that were not necessarily favorable toward the interests of the Western nations.
[42] By the 1970s, the Islamists had become important allies in supporting governments, such as Egypt, which were friendly to U.S. interests