Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim is a 2005 nonfiction book by Mahmood Mamdani, an Indian-born Ugandan scholar and author who is currently a professor of political science, anthropology, and African studies at Columbia University. In Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, Mamdani explores The Construction and Consequences of the “Good Muslim/Bad Muslim” Binary, Blowback and the Consequences of US Foreign Policy, particularly during the Cold War, and The Political Roots and Uses of Terrorism. Published less than two years after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim challenged the then-dominant narrative that terrorism was a natural outgrowth of “Islamic fundamentalism.” Instead, Mamdani argues that terrorism is always motivated by comprehensible political goals and must be understood in its full political context. 

This guide uses the 2005 First Three Leaves Press edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, rape, and religious discrimination.

Summary

Mahmood Mamdani’s Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror is a critique of the ideological, historical, and political forces that have shaped the modern global landscape of terrorism. Writing in the wake of 9/11, Mamdani challenges dominant narratives that frame political violence primarily through cultural or civilizational lenses. Instead, he presents history—particularly Cold War geopolitics and American foreign policy—as central to understanding both the rise of terrorism and the contemporary war on terror.

A cornerstone of Mamdani’s argument is a rejection of the simplistic cultural binary that distinguishes “good Muslims” from “bad Muslims.” He critiques how this dichotomy, shaped and promoted by both political Islam and the American establishment, essentially strips Muslims of political agency, forcing them into categories defined by Western strategic interests. In both American public discourse and foreign policy, “good Muslims” are those who align with US objectives, while “bad Muslims” are those who resist them. This lens depoliticizes the grievances behind resistance and paints dissent as inherently dangerous or evil. Mamdani argues against the impulse to view terrorism as an irrational outgrowth of religious fanaticism or cultural dysfunction. Instead, he insists that terrorism is a political phenomenon, an outgrowth of specific historical processes and political conditions. To reduce it to religious motivation is not only intellectually lazy but politically dangerous, as doing so obscures the real roots of violence and enables policies that perpetuate conflict rather than resolve it.

Mamdani traces a significant portion of modern terrorism back to the Cold War, during which the United States and its allies funded, trained, and armed Islamic militants in Afghanistan in a proxy war against the Soviet Union. This intervention, known as the Afghan jihad, created a global infrastructure of terror. Groups like al-Qaeda emerged from this very environment, not as enemies of the West initially, but as assets in its geopolitical struggles. Mamdani draws a direct line from this history to the events of 9/11, arguing that the US cultivated the very forces that would later attack it. Mamdani situates the war on terror within a broader imperial history. The US response to 9/11 was not just about security or justice: It was about power. The bombing of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq were less about targeting terrorists than about reasserting American dominance in a post-Cold War world. These wars reflected an imperial impulse disguised as a moral crusade, one that conflated vengeance with justice and democracy with military occupation. Mamdani notes the symmetry between the perpetrators of 9/11 and the US government’s response: Both refused compromise, both spoke in moral absolutes, and both dehumanized the other.

Mamdani offers a historical analysis of political terror, linking its contemporary forms to the counterinsurgency strategies developed during the Cold War. He details how the US and other Western powers—building on colonial British tactics in Malaysia—sought to undermine guerrilla movements by targeting the civilian populations that supported them. This approach, particularly evident in Vietnam and Latin America, helped institutionalize a form of warfare that deliberately blurred the line between civilian and combatant. Over time, such tactics not only radicalized opponents but also laid the groundwork for right-wing terror movements to adopt similar methods, turning political violence against the public. Mamdani details how the CIA, under the guise of anti-communism, facilitated drug trafficking in Southeast Asia and Latin America to fund its covert operations. This created a global network of violence, criminality, and impunity. Figures such as Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman were all, at one time, supported by the US, highlighting the profound contradictions in its foreign policy. The US effectively created a global terror infrastructure under the banner of fighting the Soviet Union, only to later become its primary target in an example of foreign policy blowback.

Mamdani’s critique is not limited to international policy. He also points to the erosion of democracy within the US itself. The pursuit of covert wars without congressional approval, the use of private military contractors, and the increasing reliance on executive power all contributed to a weakening of democratic accountability. The media’s role in this process was crucial: instead of acting as a watchdog, the press largely became complicit, particularly in its uncritical coverage of Israel. Mamdani notes that American liberals, who are willing to criticize their own government, often refrain from scrutinizing Israel due to a deeply ingrained ideological alignment. Mamdani argues that the relationship between the United States and Israel cannot be understood solely in terms of strategic or economic interest; it must be seen through the lens of settler colonialism. Both the United States and Israel are settler societies built on the displacement of Indigenous populations. Mamdani draws parallels between Zionism and the founding of Liberia by formerly enslaved Americans: Both were projects that united the oppressed and their former oppressors in a “civilizing” mission, at the expense of existing native populations. This settler logic is at the root of Israel’s policies in the occupied territories, Mamdani argues, including the construction of the separation wall. Just as apartheid South Africa justified its racial policies by invoking democracy and modernity, so too does Israel use the language of civilization to obscure its colonial project.

Mamdani draws an analogy between the US’s use of Islamism against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and its support for Zionism in the Middle East. Both projects instrumentalized religion for political purposes. Like Pakistan, Israel was founded by secular elites but became increasingly dominated by religious ideologies under US patronage. Mamdani warns that when religion is politicized and aligned with intolerant power, it becomes a language that justifies terror, whether Islamic or Zionist. Toward the end of the book, Mamdani addresses the question of historical responsibility. He contrasts the US’s constructive post-WWII role in Europe with its destructive role in the Global South during the Cold War. While Europe received the Marshall Plan, countries like Afghanistan, Mozambique, and Nicaragua became battlegrounds for proxy wars, leaving behind devastated societies and enduring conflicts. Even after the Cold War, Western powers often demanded that African governments reconcile with terrorist movements in the name of peace, effectively legitimizing violence when it served their interests. In closing, Mamdani urges a new global movement for peace, one grounded in historical understanding and democratic accountability. The war on terror, he argues, cannot be won militarily because it is ultimately about politics, justice, and power. The real solution lies in independent thinking and political reform. Like the antiwar movement during Vietnam, it must come from within democratic societies, particularly the US and Israel. Only through reflection, responsibility, and resistance to absolutist politics can society hope to dismantle the cycle of terror and imperial violence that defines the world today.