Click to play videoHe came, he campaigned and he conquered and on Tuesday, Obama's swearing-in ceremony was watched by millions across the world.
Getting off to a quick start, in his inaugural address US President Barack Obama promised a new way forward between America and the Muslim world. "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," he had said in his inaugural speech.
A US foreign policy statement on Wednesday put pressure on Pakistan to deliver on terrorism. The statement said America will increase non-military aid to Pakistan but will hold the country responsible for security along the Afghan border.
On CNN-IBN's Face the Nation the question that was being asked was: Will Obama succeed in winning over Muslims across the world?
On the panel of experts to try and answer the question were Editorial Advisor The Times of India Group Gautam Adhikari; Voice of America's South Asia Bureau Chief Steven Herman and Dawn Columnist Jawed Naqvi.
REACHING OUT TO MUSLIMS
Obama has demonstrated that there is an iron fist in the velvet glove. Aware that people around the globe are watching him, particularly in the Muslim world, the new US President used his inaugural speech to reach out to the Islamic community all over the world. He said a new way forward would be found for Muslims.
On his first day in office the new president asked Pakistan to deliver on terrorism, saying that if it didn't America would not increase non-military aid to the country.
Reacting to this, Gautam Adhikari said Obama's job wasn't to win over the Muslim public opinion, unless it served the interest of the US. He also put forth the point that though Obama was popular in some Muslim countries across the world, in Pakistan he wasn't popular because he is bent on changing policy towards that country in a drastic way.
Adhikari also spoke about the economic weapon that Obama is using against Pakistan - asking them to fight terror and be accountable for it and asking them to cooperate with the US on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border by promising them triple the amount of money in terms of American aid.
The US foreign policy, some are concerned, will look be led forward by a team filled with Clintonistas after Hillary Clinton comes to power. Steven Herman confirmed this fear saying, "With Hillary Clinton coming in as the Secretary of State, one is looking in at her with the Bill Clinton influence in the driver's seat."
Adhikari disagreed with Herman on the Clinton era coming back. "The foreign policy team is not just the state department. It's a team of experts, people who understand the world," he said adding that Hillary's understanding of the Indian situation is quite sound.
However, Jawed Naqvi agreed saying that a Clinton policy in the current situation would not be very different from a pre-9/11 area.
Meanwhile, a bone of contention with a lot of people is the fact that two days into his presidency, Obama is yet to speak out on the Israeli action on Gaza.
Naqvi justified this act of Obama's saying that during the presidential election campaign all the candidates said they hoped to serve the Israelis better and therefore, it was same as what Hillary said: "So it's going to be more of the same thing, but Iran holds the key here. If Iran is negotiable, then a lot of the problem can be solved."
Adhikari concurred with Naqvi's point of view saying, "If they open up a dialogue with Iran, and counter Hezbullah as an organisation that is no longer pursuing a aggressive policy then it might be easier to start talking to Hamas."
A GOOD START?
The President has begun his tenure by starting work on a promise that he made during the election campaign. He has requested that all military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay be suspended for 120 days. And though this being seen as a good start to his presidency, Adhikari insisted that the point was not about appeasing Muslims.
Naqvi agreed stating that one could not generalise on whether the new administration would be pro or anti the Muslim community.
"There are four or five different kinds of groups operating within the targeted community. One can't have a generic statement on the administration about its Muslim leanings. Saudi Arabians are the kind of Muslims the Americans will always love, Iran is just the opposite side. Al-Qaeda is a third group altogether which is neither Iran nor Saudi Arabia. And then there are the bleeding heart liberals who have nowhere to look," he said.
It seems that the exit policy in Iraq is dependant on whether or not the policy will lead to an enhanced Iran. Herman said that this will be one of the biggest challenges in the first term of the Obama administration.
However, what is important to note is that the difference of approach from the previous administration is not really evident at the moment - or maybe it is just too early to tell. On Pakistan Obama says US will cut non-military aid, on Afghanistan he says US is going to commit more troops, so there is not much amount of new thinking coming out right now.
"The fact that Obama is saying he will pull out troops from Iraq and commit them to Afghanistan is a way of diverting the war against terror from the American point of view. This is leading up to the wrong path completely," Adhikari stated.
PAK KEY TO OBAMA'S WAR ON TERROR
The biggest foreign policy that faces the US right now is Pakistan-sponsored terror. How is Obama going to convince the ISI and the Pakistani army to bring about some sort of order so that they stop encouraging as well as funding Jehadis?
To this Adhikari stated: "The ISI and the army want to stay in power as far as possible. A couple of reasons for this is good business connections as well as economics. The fact is that the Bush administration would dole out aid dollars by the million to Pakistan and there would be no questions asked.
However, what Obama was suggesting were very tough conditions, something that Pakistan may not be able to meet up to.
Herman intervened at this point saying this is a period where a tremendous amount of change can happen but not just from the US.
"The content of the change will be a totally different philosophy than what we've seen in the past year which was evident in the campaign, but be warned that the Obama administration is going to be extremely tough on terror," he said.
Naqvi entered the debate again at this stage saying that Obama was going to change the civilisational war into a strategic war. "It will no longer be a war of America versus Islam, but of America against the criminals. In that way he has made it very inclusive, where everybody appears to have a stake."
Adhikari said he thought the very description of the war on terror was a clash of civilisations was a mistaken one. Herman however, pointed out that al-Qaeda still saw it as a clash of civilisations and therefore that theory could not be dismissed.
In conclusion though, all panellists agreed that Obama has made it clear that he is an ally of all religions.
Results of the Web/SMS poll: Will Obama succeed in winning over Muslims across the world?
Yes: 47 per cent
No: 53 per cent
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