From Radical Islam to U.S. Extremism: Democracy Under Pressure

While radical Islam remains a major threat to democratic society, the U.S. faces growing threats from radical and extreme groups on both the right and left.

Serwan Zangana | Exclusive to iKurd.net

The radical Islamic groups have contributed to harming and killing almost more Muslims than any other radicals in the past two decades in the world. But in every terrorist attack committed by radical Muslims, the U.S. and the West, mostly right-wing politicians and conservatives, are rapidly coming to the conclusion to incriminate Muslims in general.

Indeed, the terrorist attacks by radical Islamic groups have increased, and a larger number of people have been affected in Muslim countries, as Afghanistan takes the lead, followed by Somalia and Iraq. According to data collected by Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique from 1979–2024, 86.3% of Islamist terrorist attacks occurred in Muslim countries, and 88.9% of deaths resulting from those terrorist attacks also occurred in Muslim countries.

While the majority of people in the Middle East, North Africa, and some Asian countries embrace the religion of Islam or identify as Muslims, the radicals are either rejected or condemned by a high percentage of Muslims. For example, the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (David Pollock), was rejected by approximately 95% of Arabs.

Evidently, radical Muslims are engineering the destruction of free society in the world, and under Sharia rule, they are attempting to dismantle every democratic system that stands as an umbrella for diversity.

Ironically, as the U.S. is conducting military operations abroad against radical Islamic organizations, it is supporting Syria’s Islamic government and its president, the former leader of ISIS, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Apparently, the U.S. is guilty of its role in some disasters that were caused by radical Muslims, and in fact, American politicians define radicals and terrorists depending on U.S. interests. This is the case with Syria’s al-Sharaa and the Taliban in Afghanistan, as they are not designated as terrorists by the U.S., and even the American mainstream media has diverted its focus away from the two.

In addition to radical Islam, American society has been terrorized by many extreme domestic groups and organizations from both the left and the right wing, and the American people have not forgotten how they were inflicted with serious injuries by heinous acts committed by domestic extremists and racist organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Aryan Nations, neo-Nazis, etc., specifically against Blacks throughout history.

However, right-wing figures and politicians often perceive White Christians in America as the main power of the nation while they demonize Muslims and immigrants from so-called Third World countries. President Donald Trump said, “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover.”

Obviously, the right wing and the Republican Party have crossed many lines in their rhetoric that even concerned some conservatives and Trump supporters. At the Turning Point USA summit, the prominent former Fox News host Tucker Carlson clearly said, “Attacking millions of Americans because they’re Muslims? It’s disgusting. And I’m a Christian; I am not a Muslim… you should not attack people on those grounds. And you’re seeing it from Republicans.” Generalizing all Muslims and forming them into one category is an obvious prejudice in American society.

Afghan refugee Rahmanullah Lakanwal kills two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., killing Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and wounding Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, November 26, 2025. Photo: iKurd.net/CCTV/X

Furthermore, in the wake of the unforgiving, atrocious attack by the Afghan refugee Rahmanullah Lakanwal on two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., killing Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and wounding Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, all Afghan people were abruptly condemned as President Trump said, “Processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”

Although Lakanwal’s action was strongly condemned by the Afghan community in the U.S., President Trump’s order against the Afghan immigration process instilled fear in the community, as many Afghans moved to America following the U.S. withdrawal in 2021 and the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

One Afghan emphasized that the shooting by Lakanwal was a tragic act and “an individual criminal offense, not representative of the community.” Evidently, the U.S. military operation and implementation of its policy in Afghanistan in 2001, which resulted in defeating the terrorist organization of the Taliban, would not have succeeded without Afghan assistance to the overall operation.

Apparently, the shift in U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan in 2021, through troop withdrawal and the abandonment of Afghan allies, caused a disaster for both Afghans and Americans, as 13 U.S. troops were killed by a suicide bomber.

This was indeed the worst day for U.S. troops, as they were not even engaged in combat. Obviously, the U.S. presence in Afghanistan had to come to an end, but the failing strategy and planning of the withdrawal under former President Joe Biden’s administration became a catastrophe and caused Afghan displacement.

U.S. President Donald Trump with former Vice President Joe Biden after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States January 20, 2017. Photo: AFP

American politicians are masters of the blame game, as during the crisis of the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, former President Biden blamed President Trump’s first-term presidency for the withdrawal agreement with the Taliban in Qatar in 2020. Now, President Trump in his second term is criticizing former President Biden for allowing Afghans to move to the U.S. without proper vetting.

Seemingly, the influx of Muslim immigrants to the U.S. and the West became a factor in strict legislation implementing tougher immigration policies. However, it should be noted that powerful nations, including the U.S., have generated conditions that caused unsafe and insecure environments in countries with large Muslim populations, including the Middle East, displacing or forcing thousands of people to flee and seek immigration or asylum in safer countries.

Politicizing immigration matters in the U.S. has become a common practice among American politicians and has impacted the country’s security and economy, while discrediting law-abiding immigrants.

Members of the Muslim community pay at Times Square, March 10, 2024, in New York, U.S. Photo: AP

Additionally, implementing policy based on a single incident can cause public agitation and fear among immigrants who have become part of American society and contributed to the U.S. in many ways. Correlating all Muslim immigrants with terrorism is a fallacy, as such rhetoric amplifies a single incident committed by a Muslim immigrant for political purposes. U.S. foreign policy has often contributed to immigration chaos and created major crises within America.

Apparently, the more people in Muslim nations reject radical groups and extreme Sharia rule, the more radicals respond by using terror and force as the only path to ascend to power and rule.

ISIS, for example, controlled significant territory in Iraq and Syria between 2013 and 2019, bringing a tsunami of terror to the region. The area is still recovering from the physical and psychological damage caused by the organization, which indicates the failure of Islamic governance.

However, while radical Islam remains a major threat to democratic society, the U.S. is also facing threats from domestic radicals and extreme right- and left-wing groups. American society has been traumatized by national terrorist groups and extremists from the 19th to the early 20th century, prior to the rise of radical Islam in the U.S.

Serwan Zangana, a contributing writer for iKurd.net, lives in Virginia, U.S. He serves as a correction officer.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of iKurd.net or its editorial team.