Dear, you are not telling me anything new. I am fully aware of the fact that the US, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia worked together to establish Mujahideen groups to challenge Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
One of these Mujahideen groups became the Al-Qaeda Network in 1988 under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden. This was his first step towards creating Ummah. Osama Bin Laden was also opposed to American military footprint in the US and this position put him at crosshairs with the US eventually. However, many had no clue to the extent of sympathy and support for the Al-Qaeda Network in some Islamic countries until wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria and Yemen broke out. The US conducted a series of COIN operations including
Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, crackdown on the Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) including
assassination of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi in Iraq,
Operation Neptune Spear in Pakistan, and numerous drone strikes in
different Islamic countries to degrade Al-Qaeda Network on a larger scale. The US also compelled Taliban groups to
prevent Anti-American plots in Afghanistan. The US continues to act against Al-Qaeda operatives around the world when found (see
this and
this). Pakistan also arrests Al-Qaeda operatives when found within its space (see
this).
I shared a Syrian
research paper that explains HOW and WHY Assad setup (or Assad regime) supported Salafi-Jihadi networks while maintaining plausible deniability officially. Assad setup wanted to replicate the Mujahideen model of warfare to defeat US forces in Iraq. In line with this policy, Assad setup allowed Al-Qaeda operatives to establish a base of operations in Syria and use it as the launchpad to challenge American forces in Iraq:
After the American occupation of Iraq in 2003, the Syrian government joined in the war next door with its same arsonist/fire-fighter strategy, often turning a blind eye to jihadis who had reached Syria and were training there before heading to Iraq and, less frequently, providing training itself and actively encouraging them to join the fray. From the first year of the war, as security checks on the Iraqi side of the border disappeared and Syria looked the other way, foreign fighters began joining al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi. In the next decade, that organisation would develop into the most notorious terrorist group by far—Daesh—after receiving training at the Syrian border town of al-Bukamal.[14] This prompted the US Defence Intelligence Agency in October 2003 to call Syria ‘a major point of access’ for jihadis; in 2005, US military leaders described Syrian cooperation as ‘very unhelpful’.[15]
Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi was a Jordinian national and
how he reached Iraq? Through Syria. Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) is a Syrian national and
how he reached Iraq? Though Syria. American forces KILLED the former but ARRESTED the latter in Iraq in 2006. The AQI had lost much ground in Iraq in 2008 but regrouped in Syria in 2011 for another push into Iraq under the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) framework. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi also disclosed
in his book that ISIL groups invaded Iraq from Syria. These accounts seem to MATCH.
The US-led
Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria is the largest and most ambitious COIN undertaking in the world that is aimed to checkmate ISIL movement in the region. But as powerful as the US is, it does not have control over hearts and minds of people around the world. The US fully understands that Syria and Iraq have a role to play in stopping the ISIL movement.
Assad setup was playing with fire and ended up burning itself. Obama administration closed all prison compounds including Camp Bucca under American control during transition of power to Iraqi government in 2011 to manage Iraqi affairs. This decision paved the way for release of thousands of prisoners including Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa in Iraq in 2011. Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa distanced himself from AQI and decided to support Syrian rebels during the Syrian Civil War. Who would have thought that an ex-AQI operative would come to dethrone Assad regime after years of fighting? The God works in mysterious ways and all should fear God instead of partaking in corruption and mischief.