US Is Quietly Courting Jamaat-E-Islami Ahead of Bangladesh Elections

Washington is quietly courting Bangladesh's once-banned Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, betting on influence over isolation - and risking a diplomatic shockwave across South Asia.

Leaked audio obtained by The Washington Post (WP) shows a US diplomat in Dhaka urging engagement with Jamaat-E-Islami as the party barrels toward its strongest-ever election result in next month's national polls.

"We want them to be our friends," the diplomat said behind closed doors, pressing Bangladeshi journalists to bring Jamaat figures - including its powerful student wing - into mainstream media conversations.

The outreach marks a striking shift. Jamaat-e-Islami, previously banned under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has a long history of advocating Islamist governance, including proposals to curb women's work hours and expand the role of religious law. Now, the party is rebranding - selling itself as anti-corruption, reform-minded, and election-ready.

Washington appears willing to play along.

The US official downplayed fears of Islamist rule, arguing America holds decisive economic leverage. If Jamaat crosses ideological red lines, he said, the US could retaliate with crushing tariffs - a direct threat to Bangladesh's export-driven garment sector.

"If there are no more orders, there will be no Bangladeshi economy," the diplomat warned.

India is alarmed - and watching closely. New Delhi has long viewed Jamaat as a security risk and a destabilizing force with ideological ties to Pakistan. Analysts warn that US engagement with Jamaat could deepen already strained US-India relations at a time when geopolitical trust is fraying.

"India's biggest fear in Bangladesh has always been Jamaat," said regional expert Michael Kugelman. "This could widen the rift."

The political backdrop is explosive. Bangladesh is entering a post-Hasina era after her dramatic 2024 ouster, with Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus leading an interim government and promising a democratic reset. But Jamaat's return to the political mainstream signals a major realignment - and a test of how far Western powers will go to secure influence in a volatile region.

Jamaat leaders insist they no longer seek religious rule, claiming their platform now centres on governance, transparency, and accountability. Critics remain unconvinced, pointing to the party's ideological roots and past rhetoric that sounded very close to religious bigotry.

History shows that Jamaat-E-Islami was created by the United States following the Second World War when Soviet Union turned out to be a formidable superpower. The US government back then, according to historians, profusely funded for the launching of Jamaat as a fundamentalist and theocratic political party in South Asia to tackle the augmentation of Soviet socialist ideology in India, Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The United States spent millions of dollars back then and got huge numbers of Islamic books published for the propagation of Jamaat's theocratic political preaching and for indoctrinating the South Asian Muslims to uphold religious dogmatism and to oppose communist ideals.

Even news coverage surfaced following the regime change of August 2024 that 29 million USD was spent in Bangladesh a few years earlier by a deep state to topple the immediate past government. US President Donald Trump condemned communal attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh during October 2024 while Donald Trump was in the presidential race.

The US government, after Donald Trump won the latest presidential elections, significantly reduced foreign aid to many under developed countries in South Asia and Africa because reportedly those funds from the United States are utilized for achieving political mileage like spoiling political stability or overthrowing elected governments in the third world.

Sagacious political observers have underscored that Jamaat-E-Islami does not show any remarkable contradiction with the US policies. When US forces attacked Venezuela around one month ago, a few leftwing political parties in Bangladesh brought out demonstrations over the US invasion in Caracas but neither Jamaat nor any of its allies echoed any buzz about the tussles between the White House and Latin American countries.

>>WP