Afghan President Hamid Karzai is asking whether an increase in radicalism across an Islamic world “in turmoil” is the result of the U.S.-led campaign against terror. In a speech on Sunday, he said the U.S. “needs to explain itself” to Muslims.
In a series of veiled criticisms posed in the form of questions, Karzai in an address to the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar put the onus on the West to clarify its intentions in its dealings with the Islamic world.
After summarizing progress made in Afghanistan since the toppling of the Taliban – for which he said the Afghan people were grateful to the U.S. and other allies – Karzai said that was only “one side of the story.” The other side, he said, had to do with “the war on terror as it began in 2001 and as it moved forward until today.”
“By waging this war on terrorism, have we brought less radicalism in the Muslim world, or have we caused more radicalism in the Muslim world?” he asked. “The argument is definitely that the Muslim world has seen more radicalism – from Pakistan to Afghanistan, all the way to Mali and Nigeria.”
