Donald Trump must address these issues and strive to win goodwill among Muslim countries
PESHAWAR: United States’ President Donald Trump vowed, in his inaugural speech, to eradicate Islamic terrorism from the face of the earth. He hinted at speeding up military efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere to achieve the US’s objectives throughout the world. He also stated he would forge new alliances while strengthening the old ones to fight militancy and extremism in the world. Will the president give a thought to the factors and forces that are responsible for inciting extremism in the world? There is a great need to curb the root causes of terrorism and extremism in the world. There is a lot of resentment among Muslim countries against US policies towards their countries.
President Trump has pledged to support the construction of new settlements on occupied Palestinian territories, despite opposition from the United Nations. Trump’s Israel policy also calls for the recognition of Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and announced that the US embassy would be located to Jerusalem. Trump has nominated David Friedman as US ambassador to Israel, who opposes the two-state solution and backs undivided Jerusalem as the capital. Moreover, the presence of US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq even after the ouster of Taliban and Saddam Hussain is viewed with reservations in the Muslim world. Donald Trump must address these issues and strive to win goodwill among Muslim countries instead of enraging them with hatred.
Sayyad A Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2017.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
