
Counting India among the victims of violent terrorist attacks, US President Donald Trump said, “Few nations have been spared the violent reach of terrorism.”
Citing various terror attacks in the US, he said “America has suffered repeated barbaric attacks from the atrocities of September 11 to the devastation of the Boston bombings to the horrible killings in San Bernardino and Orlando. The nations of Europe have also endured unspeakable horror. So too have the nations of Africa and South America. India, Russia, China, and Australia have all been victims.”
Speaking at the Riyadh Summit, the US President said, “Europe, nations of Africa and South America, India, Russia, and China have been targets of terrorist attacks.”
Acknowledging that in the Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern nations death toll had been the highest, he said, the “humanitarian and security disaster” that started from this region is now spreading across the world.
“…in sheer numbers, the deadliest toll has been exacted on the innocent people of Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern nations. They have borne the brunt of the killings and the worst of destruction in this wave of fanatical violence. Some estimates hold that more than 95 percent of the victims of terrorism are themselves Muslim. We now face a humanitarian and security disaster in this region that is spreading across the planet,” he said.
Trump urged leaders of the Middle East to combat a “crisis of Islamic extremism” that has emerged from the region. He said the fight against terrorism was a “battle between good and evil” and not a clash between the West and Islam.
During a meeting of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders, he sought to chart a new course for America’s role in the region, one aimed squarely on rooting out terrorism, with less focus on promoting human rights and democratic reforms.