Qamar-ul Huda is the Michael E. Paul Chair and Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the United States Naval Academy. He previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of State Secretary’s Office for Religion and Global Affairs, where he focused on civil society, religious communities, and diplomacy with non-government organizations. He is the author of “Reenvisioning Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution in Islam” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024).
During the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, coalition forces –particularly the U.S. military – acknowledged that eliminating terrorism through a military response is impossible. Moving from a kinetic military approach, strategists, policymakers, and counterterrorism experts focused on countering violent extremism (CVE) practices and the use of civil society to put those practices in motion.
The coronavirus pandemic is President Donald Trump’s 9/11 — but rather than identifiable terrorists to target, there is an invisible virus threatening global stability. This crisis will test the president’s ability to rely on his experts and to acknowledge and rectify his errors.
Qamar-ul Huda is the Michael E. Paul Chair and Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the United States Naval Academy.
