Reaching Muslim Audiences

Farah Pandith, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Geneive Abdo, journalist and fellow at the Century Foundation, presented their recommendations for the future of U.S. engagement with Muslim communities around the world at a CSIS meeting on November 24, 2008. Pandith asserted that in a post 9/11 world, the US government must go beyond traditional public diplomacy concepts of “winning hearts and minds,” engage innovatively with the “vast range of Muslim communities throughout the world” and develop ways to amplify mainstream Muslim voices that push back against violent extremism. Abdo argued that U.S. initiatives in the Middle East aren’t far-reaching enough because they are merely “preaching to the converted.” She argued that the real way to change public opinion in the Arab world is through a shift in U.S. policies and constructive work on political reform.