Farah Pandith, a 1990 graduate of Smith College and of Tufts University, has been named as the US Special Representative for Islamic Outreach at State Department.
New U.S. Special Representative Announced
for Muslim OutreachWashington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has appointed Farah Pandith to serve as special representative to Muslim communities, in charge of a new office that is responsible for outreach with Muslims around the world.
According to a notice published by the State Department June 23, Special Representative Pandith and her staff will carry out Clinton’s efforts to “engage with Muslims around the world on a people-to-people and organizational level.”
Pandith previously was an adviser on Muslim engagement at the State Department, serving as a senior adviser to the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. She has also served on the National Security Council as the coordinator for U.S. policy on outreach to Muslims, and worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development on assistance projects for Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian Territories.
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June:25:2009 - 08:53
Does the appointment of an Indian rather than an Arab to this position mean the U.S. is giving up on outreach to Arab Muslims? In my experience, I recall one Arab ending a discussion with the statement, “This is our religion, and what we say is what it means.” – if the opinions of Indian Muslims, Berbers, etc., were different at best they were of no importance to him, and at worst they were met with outright hostility.
June:25:2009 - 08:53
I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘giving up’, rather that she was who was available, already known, and ‘pre-vetted’.
Some Arabs are certainly racist. That can rub off on religious outlook, too. They seem to create a hierarchy:
Of course, some of the above is enshrined in Shariah law, too…
June:25:2009 - 08:53
Yet doesn’t her appointment enshrine a demonstrably failed approach? Although the U.S. and Pakistan now fight a common foe, anti-American sentiment still runs so high that U.S. officials cannot show their faces to the Pakistani refugees who receive U.S. aid, while Taliban sympathizers roam free in IDP camps to preach anti-U.S. hatred to people before aid is distributed.
What other indicator is needed to suggest that the current Public Diplomacy philosophy is fundamentally flawed and ought to be changed?
June:25:2009 - 08:53
I think you’re reading too much into her appointment. I think it’s simpler: She was qualified; she was available.
I sincerely doubt that Pakistan entered into the discussion at all.
PD is always interested in new, workable ideas, or at least it used to be.