President Barack Obama speaks at the White House summit to counter violent extremism at the State Department in Washington, DC on Thursday.
AFP/Washington
US President Barack Obama on Thursday called on Middle Eastern leaders to stand up to "violent extremism" and stop proxy wars that fuel the rise of terror groups.
"The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie," he told the final day of a conference on combating extremism. "And all of us, regardless of our faith, have a responsibility to reject it."
Obama challenged Middle Eastern powers to stop actions that he claimed have stoked the rise of Islamic State, Al-Qaeda and others.
Fighting between Sunnis and Shias "will only end when major powers address their differences through dialogue and not through proxy wars," he said.
Turning to Islamic State, Obama said the governments of Syria and Iraq should bear some responsibility for the group's emergence.
"In Iraq, the failure of the previous government to govern in an inclusive manner helped to pave the way for ISIL's (Islamic State's) gains there."
In Syria, Bashar al-Assad's "war against his own people and deliberate stoking of sectarian tensions help to fuel the rise of ISIL," he said.
Obama was addressing a conference that has been months in the making, but took on greater significance after several brutal extremist attacks that have hit countries from Nigeria to Demark to Pakistan.
Terror fight is 'third world war'
The fight against violent extremism is a "third world war" that knows no borders, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said, in urging greater international efforts to counter the threat.
Violent extremists groups count foreign fighters from about 90 different countries, "all potential terrorists in their own country when they return," Judeh said during the conference on combating extremism in Washington.
"The threat we are confronting today is unprecedented... It recognises no boundaries, no religion, no culture, no ethnicity. It spares no religion, no culture, no ethnicity," Judeh said.
"These terrorists have proven to have no limit or inhibition to their brutality, barbarism or savagery," he added.
"It's our war as Muslims... It's our collective war as an international community."
He then reprised comments made by Jordan's King Abdullah II in December during a White House visit, labelling the fight against Islamic State militants a "third world war," and pressed for increased international cooperation in the "generational fight."
