Khawaja Muhammad Asif is apparently banking on the proposition that his audience has never read the Qur’an, or doesn’t understand what it means, and has no idea that what the West calls “Islamic extremism” is actually Islamic jihad, which is mainstream in Islam.
“‘West Invented Jihad…’: Pakistani Defence Minister’s Damning Attempt To Deflect Responsibility Of Terrorism Support,” by Abhishek Tiwari, Republic World, April 27, 2025:
Islamabad: Pakistan ‘s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, has triggered controversy with his shocking assertion that the concept of ‘jihad’ in its militant form was introduced to Pakistan by the West. According to Asif, Pakistan had no history of religious extremism until it aligned with Western powers during the Cold War era, particularly to support the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union. Asif argued that the alliance marked the beginning of radicalisation in the region.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani Defence Minister’s remarks linking jihad with the West has raised eyebrows across globe, especially Western countries, who called it an attempt to shift the blame of promoting terrorism to West. On the other hand, the statement has also thrown spotlight on the Western countries for their role in promoting extremism.
Amidst a growing tension with India in the backdrop of the recent barbaric terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, the claim has led to a heated discussion, with many questioning the accuracy of Asif’s assertion. Experts stated that while it is true that Pakistan’s relationship with extremism has been multifaceted, it is also true that the country’s history of radicalisation is deeply intertwined with its own internal dynamics and external influences.
“Apparently, the West invented jihad and Pakistan just accidentally became a hub for extremism,” the Pakistan Defence Minister stated.
In a shocking admission, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also acknowledged that Pakistan has been supporting, backing, and funding terrorism for three decades. In a recent interview with a foreign media, Asif stated that this was a mistake that the country is suffering from. Asif’s remarks came after a TV anchor asked him about Pakistan’s history of backing, funding, and supporting terrorist organisations….
Asif’s claim that Pakistan had no history of religious extremism until it aligned with Western powers oversimplifies the country’s complex relationship with extremism. While it is true that the country’s involvement in the Afghan jihad contributed to the rise of extremist groups, it is also true that Pakistan’s own internal dynamics, including its history of military rule and sectarian tensions, have played a significant role in shaping its experience with extremism….
࿗Infidel࿘ says
No, muslims invented jihad – whoever designed & curated the religion in medieval times, that is. The only mistakes the West made was to
⮞ Build the petroleum industry in muslim countries after the discovery of oil there. Until then, those lands had little significance and were more often than not battlefields b/w the Ottoman Turks & Iranians (Safavids to Qajars)
⮞ Back the mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Soviets. Had the Soviets been allowed to conquer and annex Afghanistan, it would probably been as civilized a country as, say, Turkmenistan
⮞ Arm Pakistan to the teeth in the 80s, thinking that it will use all that against Afghanistan. It never would have, since both countries are a part of the ummah. Instead, they reserved it for India
Hank says
+10
Ongoing mistakes:
– The West and other non-Muslim host-nations promote terrorism by importing, facilitating and accommodating jihadist’s (Islam). Europe (France) was and is a clear case of this when they fooled around with Islam and accommodated the jihadist Khomeini. The result of this was the extreme radicalisation of Iran and the region to this very day. Think Hamas, Oct 7.
– Europe (Germany) repeated the example of France and the result was 911, ensuing war and more extreme radicalization of the region to this very day.
– Leftwing elites are still promoting terrorism (at home and abroad) by facilitating, importing, accommodating the illegal Muslim invasion. They don’t even deport illegal Muslim migrants, jihadists who commit crimes in the host-country. The madness continues with so-called Islamic holidays being officially announced – Think King Charles and his Ramadan at Windsor.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
💯
Tony Rice says
All the problems descend from one source, and we know what that is.
rubiconcrest says
I think he better go into hiding. To say that is blasphemy in islam.
Sam Tawadrous says
No, he and other Muslims are not hiding, rather, they are practicing taqiyya (halal disguised lying), in order to protect the corrupt terrorist teachings of Islam
gravenimage says
Spot on, Sam.
Wellington says
What a whopper of a lie but then Islam in its entirety is a whopper of a lie. So quite fitting.
Greg says
“accidentally became a hub for extremism’?!!
Osama Bin Ladin was living in your neighbourhood!
gravenimage says
+1
Les says
Many Pakistanis and people of Pakistani descent, (falsely) accuse Israel of being an apartheid state. They also accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing in 1948.
They should check out the religious and ethnic makeup in their own country. They should also research the forced mass expulsion, violence and killing of “nonbelievers”. Eg the 1947 Rawalpindi massacres: widespread violence, massacres, and rapes of Hindus and Sikhs by Muslim mobs in the Rawalpindi Division of the Punjab Province of British India in March 1947.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I won’t gloss over 1947, but no need to hark back to then. Look at today: Pakistan is worse than an apartheid state
In the South Africa of the 60s & 70s, all South Africans were safe, even if segregated. You didn’t have Boers kidnapping Xhosa kids, Anglos murdering Zulus, Xhosas murdering Boers or any of that. Everybody had their own sandbox, and were largely fine: the only resentment was the ban on inter-racial activity. Which seeing today’s “integrated” South Africa, was not unquestionably a bad thing
In Pakistan, by contrast, what you have is a vertical hierarchy, rather than the separate-but-equal that you had in South Africa. Sunnis are at the top of this food chain, followed by shi’a, and then come Christians, Sikhs, Hindus and Ahmadiyas (who are not considered muslim, even though when India’s partition happened, they supported & chose Pakistan). Any violence done by sunnis against any of the other groups is just winked at. In the meantime, if Christians or Hindus dare denounce criticisms of their faith, they get hunted on blasphemy charges. In fact, they don’t even have to do that: a muslim just has to accuse a non-muslim of blasphemy, and viola! Those hapless kufar would face arrest
Also, there are no age limits on this. In most civilized countries, kids are treated as kids, and not subjected to the same bullying that adults are. Not in Pakistan. If a kid is accused of blasphemy, the mobs there go after his or her entire family. Oh, and it’s routine for kafir girls above 12 to be kidnapped, converted to islam and married: it’s why a lot of Hindu & Christian refugees who fled to India say that after 6th grade, they yank their kids out of school and keep them home, either educating them further if they can, or getting them married once they’re of legal marriage age
Most muslim countries are pretty bad when it comes to their non-muslim minorities. In the cases of Pakistan and Bangladesh, it’s worse, since their very national identities are built on being separate from India on religious lines, and they take out their hostility against the much larger India, on Hindus
Raja says
Spot on Infidel. Truely insightful.
gravenimage says
Fine post, Infidel.
Princess says
It’s the West, the West, the West. Their main problem is that their minds aren’t able to accept any accountability. It’s always someone else’s fault, never theirs.
Eddie says
Well said.
The problem is that their brains are wired up differently I guess and their ideology has been lies and deceit from day one.
Combination of the two. How can we blame them they can’t help it.
It brings to mind an old Korda movie “The Drum” set in India in the days of the Raj.
The central character is a young Muslim Prince .
British officer : “I will let you off this time but you must promise that you will always tell me the truth”
Prince Kassim : ” Always tell the truth ? But that will be very difficult! No one in Tokakote ever does “
James Lincoln says
Eddie says,
“How can we blame them they can’t help it.”
Yes, very low expectations.
skeptiker says
Die Muslime sind nur Konsumenten des westlichen Know-How, sind aber im religiösen Denken in der Zeit Mohammeds stehen geblieben. Es gibt keine nennenswerten Beiträge aus muslimischen Ländern, die mit dem Fortschritt und der Technologie der westlichen Gesellschaften irgendetwas zu tun haben. Sie partizipieren durch den Verkauf ihrer vom Westen benötigten Rohstoffe und verrenken sich zunehmend bei dem Versuch, ihr mittelalterliches Denken irgendwie in Einklang mit der Moderne zu bringen.
Dieses sinnlose Unterfangen wirkt zunehmend lächerlich, wenn versucht wird, mittelalterlichen Aberglauben in Einklang mit Wissenschaft und Aufklärung zu bringen.
Vielleicht ist die Radikalisierung der islamischen Gesellschaften Ausdruck einer tief sitzenden Verunsicherung und Demütigung und einer zunehmenden Sinnkrise. Im Kampf gegen den “Ungläubigen” Westen mit dem Koran in der Hand, können viele in Unfreiheit gehaltene Muselmanen der Illusion einer bedeutenden Aufgabe dienen und sich zu opfern.
jerry glenn says
There is no god but Allah and there in no Islam but Islam.
Pray Hard says
He should do stand up comedy.
John Pepple says
Anyone who has read Farahnaz Ispahani’s book “Purifying the Land of the Pure” knows perfectly well that Pakistan was infused with Islamic violence right from its start.
Sadly, I’m sure there are some idiots at our colleges and universities who will believe this minister’s statement.
Phillip Thiessen says
The Jihad created the West. We were at one point the Christian world, along came Jihad and pushed Christianity out until all we had left was the West.
gravenimage says
Pakistan’s Defence Minister: ‘The West invented jihad and Pakistan just accidentally became a hub for extremism’
………………………………
If the West had invented Jihad–if it had nothing to do with Islam–wouldn’t the West be a hub for “extremism”? How would this vn happn in a nonWestern nation like Pakistan?
Of course, this is just a lie–anyone who reads the Qur’an, Hadith, or Sira–or who listens to pious Muslim clerics–knows that Islam teaches Jihad terror. But Khawaja Muhammad Asif is counting on Westerners to be both ignorant of Islam,. but in denal about its dangers.
Here’s more bizarre stuff from Asif, where h admits that Pakistan funds and enables trrorism, but claims that it dos so on behalf of Britain and the US:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LRh0Qm0r0Q