Tulsi Gabbard, the newly elected Director of National Intelligence of the United States, in India to participate in the Raisina Dialogue, dropped a real diplomatic bombshell on national television on the NDTV channel. Ms. Gabbard, speaking of Bangladesh, expressed concern about what she described as “the long and unfortunate persecution, killing and abuse of religious minorities such as Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and others”, stating that the persecution of minorities is a matter of primary importance for the US government and the Trump administration. And, just to make sure she got all the points across, Gabbard framed her government's concerns about Bangladesh in the broader perspective of Islamist terrorism: stating that the threat to minorities in Bangladesh is “rooted in the ideology and goal” of establishing an “Islamic caliphate” implemented through terror and violence. The reactions were not long in coming. In a statement released shortly afterwards, the interim government led by Mohammed Yunus expressed “deep concern and distress”, calling Gabbard's comments “misleading and damaging” to Bangladesh's reputation. And he declared the accusations of persecution of minorities and links with the international terrorist organization to be unfounded: according to Yunus, not only is the Islamic tradition in Bangladesh “notoriously inclusive and peaceful”, but his government has made considerable progress in the fight against extremism and terrorism. Yunus was supported by his main sponsor in the last US administration, Jon Danilowicz: one of the architects of the spontaneous, peaceful and democratic student uprising that led to the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the establishment of an interim government with Islamist sympathies. According to Danilowicz, who according to some is the creator of a network of bots and fake accounts supporting Yunus, Gabbard was referring to the past persecution of minorities in Bangladesh and not to the current government. And Democratic Senator Gary Peters flew to Dhaka to shake hands with the aforementioned Yunus: who did not deny the violence and riots but simply defined them as 'politically motivated' and without religious connotations, as if this made them less serious. And he reiterated his commitment to collaborate with Washington in the famous fight against terrorism. Perhaps, one could argue, not releasing more than fifteen thousand jihadis from their homeland jails would have made things easier. One of the first actions of the new interim government was to release prominent militants such as Jashim Uddin Rahmani and Md Mohibullah, leaders of Ansar al Islam and Jamatul Ansar, affiliated with Al Qaeda: for months they have been happily organizing rallies and marches without hiding, preaching fantasies of an Islamic caliphate and the imposition of sharia. The 'March towards the caliphate' organized a few days ago in Dhaka by Hizb ut-Tahrir (an international Islamic organization with roots in Uzbekistan and the UK that promptly reappeared in Bangladesh) attracted thousands of people and caused street clashes while the government pretended to be asleep. Jihadists like Harun Izhar, arrested for planning to blow up the US and Indian missions in Bangladesh, now roam free and happy in the streets of Dhaka. In city centers, extremists happily wave ISIS and Al Qaeda banners while they take out the next infidel. Since the Yunus government took office, there have been 2212 attacks against religious minorities: Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and even Ahmadya Muslims (just to remind you that this was once East Pakistan). The jihadists, encouraged by impunity, have closed public spaces to women and stormed police stations to free detained perpetrators of sexual abuse, live on television. Female athletes on the national soccer team were prevented from playing. In recent days several restaurants were attacked because they were open during the Ramadan fast and customers were harassed. Women and girls who were not wearing the veil were targeted by gangs of guardians of integral Islam. And yet, of course, Gabbard's concerns are unfounded and peacefully vandalizing a restaurant because it serves kebabs during the holy month is clearly a political act and not motivated by religious issues. In reality, as Gabbard knows very well (and as Yunus also knows very well), it is both. In order to free Dhaka from Hasina's authoritarian drift, a free hand was given to a much worse evil, as happened in many other cases: the Bush administration knew this perfectly well, but, as is often the case with Americans, they thought they could control the good and tamed jihadis. Just as they thought they could keep Pakistan and Afghanistan under control after the defeat in Doha. The moral of the story is that not only is Bangladesh once again a playground for members of the international jihad, but Pakistan (the Pakistan that rejoiced and continues to rejoice at the return of the 'traitors' to their ideological motherland) isn't doing any better. It is under attack from the Afghan Taliban, whose government is trying to get rid of the 'Pakistani' faction and forced Sirajuddin Haqqani to resign, by the guerrillas of the Balochistan Liberation Army (who are not Jihadis but are fighting for the independence of Balochistan) and by factions linked to ISIS-K who have turned against him, he has just witnessed the birth of a new fundamentalist group, the Harakat-e-Inqilab Islami Pakistan. The group, led by Ghazi Shahabuddin, was “created under the guidance of religious scholars” and aims to establish a Taliban-like version of Sharia law in Pakistan. In reality, the wind of Islamic fundamentalism and above all the resumption of international terrorist activities is blowing strongly throughout the region: from Iran, through Afghanistan and Pakistan, to Bangladesh. Where, just to give an example, on October 7th the Tufan Al Aqsa operation was commemorated: this is the name given by Hamas and by the groups of cutthroats in the pay of Iran, such as Hezbollah and Houthi, to the massacre of civilians mentioned above. The celebration was held at the Engineering Institute in Dhaka and the event was organized by the fundamentalist organization Al Markazul Islami, sadly known for its links with Al Qaida. And the participants were addressed by senior Hamas leaders, including Sheikh Khaled Quddumi, spokesman for the organization, and Sheikh Khaled Mishal, president of the Hamas Political Bureau, both residents of Doha. The event was also attended by prominent Islamists from Pakistan, such as Shaikhul Islam Mufti Taqi Usmani and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, both influential in the most radical circles of the country, as well as a delegation from the Taliban. But of course, as Yunus would say, these are just unfortunate coincidences, just as the trips to Doha of the 'students' who are members of his government to meet representatives of the Pakistani ISI were a coincidence. Bangladesh is a democratic and peaceful nation, the jihad international does not exist, the caliphate is a fairy tale to frighten children. And Rudolph the reindeer has just parked in front of Yunus' house.