(UnitedVoice.com) – President Barack Obama didn’t end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he took office. Instead, for the entire eight years he served in the Oval Office, they continued to rage. He also ordered airstrikes in Syria. Not only did he not end the wars, but he vastly expanded the US drone program. While that was instrumental in keeping American service members safe, he took a lot of heat for the collateral damage those strikes created. Over eight years, the administration launched 540 such strikes in multiple countries.
So, when the former president made remarks recently about protecting a group of people, officials in one country mocked him.
Open Mouth, Insert Foot
On June 22, CNN aired an interview Obama had with the network’s chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour. The journalist pointed out that President Joe Biden was hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House. She said that he’s “considered autocratic” and asked Obama how to deal with authoritarian leaders. The former president said that is “complicated” because, as the president, they have “a lot of equities.” He explained that when he was serving in that position, he often dealt with people that he didn’t agree with on how the government should operate, but the US still has to have relations with them for the sake of national security.
Obama said that he had a relationship with Modi because he believed climate change was more important than other issues. He went on to say that he believes that it’s important for the POTUS to talk about the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China and that every nation should pay attention.
The 44th president said that Biden should bring up the protection of the Muslim minorities in India, a country that’s largely Hindu. Obama said that part of the argument when it comes to protecting people who are ethnic minorities in India is important when it concerns keeping the country together and avoiding internal strife.
Not Buying What He’s Selling
Cabinet members who belong to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party responded to Obama’s remarks by pointing at his foreign policy record. On Monday, June 26, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh responded to the remarks made by the former US president and said that he should think about “how many Muslim countries have been attacked by him.”
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Indian Finance minister, pointed to the bombings in Muslim-majority countries that Obama authorized. “Have the bombings not occurred from Syria to Saudi to Yemen to Iraq?” the official asked.
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