Thread by @AlanRMacLeod

Last winter, the US govt removed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) from its terrorist list, claiming they hadn't existed in a decade.

But in 2018, they were at war with them in Afghanistan.

My new investigation into this shadowy group (thread):

mintpressnews.com/us-was-at-war-…

Here's a 2018 video of the NATO commander of Afghanistan detailing how they are at war with ETIM, bombing them in order to reduce terrorism in Xinjiang Province.

But now, official US policy is that they don't exist.

So who are the ETIM?

ETIM hope to start up a Muslim ethnostate in Xinjiang. For years, they were persnally bankrolled by Osama Bin Laden, and its leader, Abdul Haq is on Al-Qaeda's council of elders.

US intel concluded that in 2001, ETIM protected OBL and helped him escape from a US capture attempt.

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, when US/China relations were good, media were reporting on how 1000s of Uyghur extremists were going to the Middle East to be trained in jihad against China - and how they were indeed carrying out terror attacks in Xinjiang.

The ETIM attacks were the catalyst for a massive response from Beijing, putting Xinjiang under lockdown and drastically curtailing freedoms.

The US goverment was neutral when it started, but China's rise has led them to take up the plight of the Uyghurs trapped in the middle.

The removal of ETIM from the terror list was hailed by many as a step towards helping Uyghurs in XJ against a Chinese onslaught.

Yet actively lying about a terror group's existence does not bode well for the prospect of a peaceful 21st century.

Ultimately, this is all politicial:

The ETIM was placed on the list because of the US War on Terror.

Now it is taken off because of the coming War on China.