New Delhi: Vali Nasr is the professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the US. An American citizen of Iranian origin, Nasr has also extensively written on the politics of Islam. He lived in Pakistan for many years studying the Jamiat-i-Islami, looking at how one of the most important organizations in the Islamic world negotiated several identities, both religious and nationalist. In Delhi to speak at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit last week, Nasr spoke to Mint. Edited excerpts:
What does Obama’s win mean for the Islamic world?
SIt has so far meant a great deal of hope. Muslim countries feel America has a president with a Muslim middle name, whose father was a Muslim, who grew up as a poor kid in Jakarta, who has travelled in the Third World. Therefore, they feel he may have an affinity for the problems and viewpoints of the Muslim world that other American presidents may not.
Secondly, they saw a different tune in what he was saying, not only about crises such as Iran, Iraq and the Palestinian-Israeli crises, but about the US relationship with other cultures and other people. And that was so different from the Bush administration’s rhetoric, which had antagonized and offended them.
But as President do you think we could all be a little disappointed because the change is not as far-reaching as he promised it to be?
Politics always has that element of disappointment. What is important is that any American president who has the goodwill of the Muslim world can probably do some things a bit easier. And that is welcome for the US because in the past few years they have literally hit a brick wall, people have been so frustrated they have not given an inch. Obama can persuade people to be a little more patient, a little more understanding.
You think he should get out of Iraq as soon as possible?
I think the objective is there. We have learnt the lesson from Afghanistan that if we leave a territory without someone in charge, it will break down and collapse and then you will have trouble. Under Obama the principle that we will leave Iraq exists and that is a big change from the Bush administration.
How would you compare the Al Qaeda in Iraq and in Afghanistan-Pakistan?