Mushahid Hussain Traces US Decline and Israeli Expansion to Post-9/11 Strategy

Speaking at a policy dialogue hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Islamabad, veteran politician and foreign policy expert Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed declared that the post-September 11 strategic doctrine of the United States directly engineered Washington's geopolitical decline while accelerating the expansionist "Greater Israel" agenda across the Middle East.

The policy symposium brought together diplomatic analysts, security experts, and legal scholars to reassess the quarter-century legacy of the global war on terror. Sayed argued that Washington's immediate emotional and military reaction to the 2001 attacks marked a decisive departure from pragmatic diplomacy, locking the Western superpower into protracted, multi-trillion-dollar engagements that compromised its domestic foundation and international standing.

The Imperial Drain: How Middle Eastern Interventions Eroded American Hegemony

The post-9/11 era saw Washington commit to a muscular foreign policy defined by pre-emptive interventionism, regime change, and direct military occupation. What began as a campaign against non-state actors in Afghanistan rapidly transformed into an expansive doctrine targeting sovereign states across the Arab and Muslim world.

Sayed underscored that the decision to invade Iraq in 2003—under allegations of weapons of mass destruction that proved entirely unfounded—represented the critical turning point in this imperial overreach. The campaign drained resources that otherwise would have bolstered American technological, economic, and infrastructure leadership. Independent economic assessments, including data from Brown University's Costs of War project, estimate that post-9/11 military operations cost the US Treasury over $8 trillion, accompanied by the devastating loss of thousands of coalition soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilian lives across South Asia and the Levant.

This strategic over-commitment created profound vulnerabilities. While Washington burned capital in the deserts of Mesopotamia and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, global competitors like China focused relentlessly on economic integration, industrial modernization, and international infrastructure networks such as the Belt and Road Initiative. The resulting shift in economic balance permanently disrupted the unipolar moment that characterized the post-Cold War world.

Aligning Western Power with Tel Aviv’s Regional Ambitions

A central thesis of Sayed's address was the structural alignment between post-9/11 American interventionism and the long-term territorial and political goals of Israeli strategists, often summarized under the ideological banner of "Greater Israel."

Prior to 2001, foreign policy blueprints authored by neoconservative think tanks—such as the Project for the New American Century and the earlier 1996 "Clean Break" report—argued that neutralizing regional states like Iraq, Syria, and Iran was essential for securing Western dominance and Israeli strategic supremacy. In the wake of the 2001 attacks, these fringe ideological concepts were swiftly adopted as official US state doctrine.

By systematically dismantling central state authority in key Arab nations, the United States removed major counterweights to Israeli military capability. This strategic neutralization enabled Tel Aviv to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, institutionalize annexation measures, and disregard international legal frameworks with complete impunity. Sayed observed that the ongoing violence in Gaza and the broader Levant represents the violent culmination of this quarter-century dynamic, wherein international law has been repeatedly sacrificed to preserve regional dominance.

The Collapse of Soft Power and the Multipolar Reality

Beyond material costs, the post-9/11 doctrine inflicted irreparable damage on the moral authority of Western institutions. The reliance on extrajudicial detention facilities, targeted assassinations, economic blockades, and double standards regarding international law dismantled the narrative of a rules-based global order.

For nations across the Global South, including Pakistan and the Gulf states, the consequences of this era were immediate and severe. South Asia endured decades of spillover instability, economic disruption, and severe domestic security challenges. Concurrently, public trust in international arbitration mechanisms evaporated as multilateral bodies proved incapable of halting unprovoked invasions or illegal territorial occupations.

Sayed emphasized that the global order has irrevocably transitioned toward multipolarity. The relative decline of Western primacy has compelled middle powers and regional blocs to seek alternative security partnerships and economic frameworks, ranging from the BRICS grouping to regional reconciliation initiatives mediated by non-Western powers.

The dialogue concluded with a consensus among panel members: the post-9/11 security paradigm has exhausted its viability. Rebuilding global stability requires a fundamental pivot away from unilateral interventionism and toward genuine compliance with international law, respect for national sovereignty, and the equitable resolution of core regional disputes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What core thesis did Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed present regarding post-9/11 events at the IPS forum?

He asserted that post-9/11 US military interventions depleted American resources and accelerated Washington's imperial decline while clearing regional obstacles for Tel Aviv's expansionist Middle East agenda.

Where and when were these geopolitical insights delivered?

The remarks were delivered during a policy dialogue hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Islamabad.

How did post-9/11 American foreign policy impact global power structures according to the address?

It drained over $8 trillion from the US Treasury in protracted Middle Eastern conflicts, creating an economic and strategic vacuum that accelerated the rise of a multipolar world order led by emerging Asian powers.