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| New era heralds US and Islamic world: Attiyah |
| 2009-02-14 |
2/15/2009 7:0:6
Source ::: THE PENINSULA/ By Satish Kanady
DOHA: The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah said that fresh hopes are pinned on a new course in relationship between the US and the Islamic world with the emergence of the US administration under President Barack Obama.
Al Attiyah was delivering the keynote address at the opening day of the sixth edition of ‘US-Islamic world Forum, Common Challenges’ here yesterday. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine K Albright, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq Barham Salih, Commander of the US Central Command Gen David Petraeus and Leader of the Opposition in Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim spoke at the forum.
The Qatari Deputy Premier said that there are indications that President Obama is aiming to establish relations based on mutual respect and maintaining joint interests with the Islamic world. “It will herald a new era, which all of us have been looking for long,” he said.
“We hope that Obama would strengthen the relations with the Islamic world by giving up the ideology of eternal conflict, a dominant feature of the US traditional policies when it comes to the Islamic world. Such policies have failed in realising stability in the region. A breakaway from their traditional policies will help restore lasting peace and development in the region,” Al Attiyah said.
The Deputy Premier expressed hope that President Obama will succeed in fostering and enhancing ties of friendship between the US and the Islamic world, the matter which requires first of all abandoning ideologies of the permanent conflict which embodied several aspects of the past polices towards the Islamic world and failed to achieve stability.
Meanwhile, Gen David Petraeus said that the US is looking for signs that Iran is willing to cooperate, but he warned Iran should stop backing extremist groups that contribute to ongoing violence in Iraq, adding that the US is watching Tehran “very, very closely.” The US commander of the region that includes both countries was firm when he asked at the world forum what concrete steps Iran could take to improve relations. Foremost on his list was that there be an end to the “training, equipping, funding of extremist elements” in the region, particularly in Iraq.
“One of the elements fueling that violence was indeed the assistance provided by Iran,” he continued. “There is absolutely no question about this, and there is also no question that some of this does continue to this day.”
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