The rise of radical Islamism and the religious intolerance that has accompanied it in several Muslim countries has, in several cases, been the result of xenophobic national security strategies. Dictatorships in Pakistan, Indonesia and Egypt, among others, hoped to motivate nationalist sentiment against foreign enemies but instead bred religious intolerance at home. Encouraging intolerance with a limited view of national security abridged religious freedom without a concomitant strengthening of national security. Now non-Muslims and even some Muslim sects are under threat because of the short-sighted embrace of radical Islamists by several governments.
Husain Haqqani served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States from 2008-2011 and is widely credited with managing a difficult partnership during a critical phase in the global war on terrorism. Considered an expert on radical Islamist movements, he is currently Director for South and Central Asia at Hudson Institute in Washington DC.
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