ABSTRACT

The US reconstruction projects in postinvasion Afghanistan and Iraq, which included buttressing protections for religious minorities and for religious freedom, tend to reinforce this link. The ongoing US support for the human rights of religious minorities is commonly seen as linked to US support for Israel in a context where US indifference to the plight of Palestinians occasions anger. Thus, religious minorities are seen by many in the region as pawns in a cynical US strategy to achieve domination of the Middle East, one aspect of which involves dismantling Islamic law. Under the International Religious Freedom Act, violations of the rights of religious minorities could trigger US sanctions against offending countries. Members of Iran's ethnic minorities are in large measure Sunnis, which means that they may suffer discrimination and abuse on both ethnic and religious grounds. The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were supposed to culminate in the establishment of vibrant democracies.