The West and IS

In a blind urge to secure its influence over West Asia and its oil, the West will end up burning its fingers as the Saudi Arabian-led strikes in Yemen will only empower extremist groups like the IS, al-Qaeda and the Shia militias (“ >The West and its flawed anti-IS strategy ,” April 1). Shia-Sunni rhetoric in Iraq and Syria has done nothing but to aid and abet these extremist groups either by driving overzealous and immature youngsters into their arms or by creating a bitter environment in these societies. It is time world leaders, more so in the West, realise that extremism can be rooted out only when they stop meddling in the internal affairs in West Asia and dividing people and communities to further their own agendas.

Syed Abdur Rahman,

Hyderabad

The war in Yemen is Version 2.0 of the decade of madness unleashed by the West and its allies in the MENA and FATA regions. There are at least two parallels to draw upon from past mistakes and if not heeded, the results could be as drastic if not worse. First, the terrain of Yemen is very similar to that of Afghanistan thus allowing enough ground for the Houthis to lead a war of attrition. Second, if the persecution of Sunnis in Baghdad resulted in the IS, the sizeable number of Shia rebels could mirror this in Sana'a. It is also clear that the U.S is intent on keeping the Saudi monarchy in its good books. It is ironic that Washington has been providing monetary aid to Yemen for years to fight the al-Qaeda, yet supports the strikes in Yemen which is helping AQIS, an arm of the al-Qaeda. It speaks volumes about the “double standard”.

Shashank Jain,

New Delhi