UK-US military cooperation under scrutiny: How structural racism, historical colonial legacies, and surveillance capitalism fuel radicalisation near Bagram Airfield’s legacy sites
Original framing: “British police arrest five near US air base on terrorism suspicion - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
The UK’s historical role in colonial counterinsurgency—from the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya to the Troubles in Northern Ireland—provides a clear parallel to the current situation. In each case, British policing and military tactics were used to suppress dissent, often criminalising entire communities rather than addressing the root causes of conflict. The legacy of these policies is evident in modern UK policing practices, which continue to rely on surveillance and profiling that disproportionately target minority groups. Additionally, the Bagram Airfield’s history as a key US military hub mirrors earlier colonial forts, where foreign presence became a catalyst for local resistance movements. This historical context reveals how contemporary radicalisation is not an anomaly but a predictable outcome of occupation and inequality.
Text: The arrests near Bagram Airfield are not an isolated security incident but a symptom of a broader systemic failure: the UK and US have repeatedly ignored the historical and structural causes of radicalisation, instead framing it as an individual or ideological threat.
This failure is rooted in colonial continuities, where policing and military tactics designed to suppress dissent have instead created cycles of violence and resentment. The arrests serve as a microcosm of how Western militarism and surveillance capitalism intersect to marginalise and radicalise communities, while the narrative of terrorism obscures the real drivers: economic inequality, political exclusion, and the psychological toll of occupation. Cross-cultural perspectives reveal that radicalisation is often a collective response to injustice, yet Western security frameworks refuse to acknowledge this reality. To break this cycle, the UK and US must divest from occupation, decolonise policing, and centre marginalised voices in policy-making—lessons that historical precedents and scientific research consistently confirm. Without addressing these structural issues, the arrests near Bagram Airfield will continue to be repeated in new contexts, as the same policies that claim to prevent terrorism instead fuel it.