PESHAWAR, May 11: The United States strengthened religious organizations to counter communism during the Cold War, but under the new scheme of things, the same organizations have become its enemy, said a speaker from Holland at a seminar held here on Friday.

Dr Jan Naderveen Pieterse, professor of sociology at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne, Holland, was critical of the global policies of the US, specifically its war against terrorism.

The seminar “Globalization and War on Terrorism” was jointly organized by the Peshawar University Teachers Association (PUTA), Department of International Relations and Department of Political Science.

“Terrorism cannot be overcome with the use of force alone. We need to address the social, political and economic problems of the world. Extreme poverty proliferates terrorism,” Dr Pieterse told the participants.

There was no visible impact of a plane crash at the Pentagon on Sept 11, the speaker revealed, expressing his doubt over the diversion of four civilian aircraft from their course on the day.

“It was really very strange that two aircraft took off from Boston, were diverted from their routes, but the sophisticated air traffic control system and its authorities could not detect it. At the same time, two other aircraft were also hijacked and the calamity which followed changed the course of the world politics. There was a sharp reaction to the incident in the US, and of course the whole world, as Washington declared that the US was under attack. For the first time, the whole world was united against terrorism,” the distinguished guest said.

Commenting on the crisis in the Middle East, Dr Pieterse said: “The coalition partners, i.e. US and Israel, robbed the Palestinians of their independence. It is a wanton destruction that evaporated legitimacy of the US war on terrorism. The US policy in the Middle East is biased.”

The speaker observed that just to secure the US interests in the oil-rich Central Asia, the US in collaboration with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia sponsored several Madaris.

“Terrorism cannot be reduced with increasing defence spending, as the US raised its defence budget by $48 billion for the coming fiscal year. To counter terrorism, the sole superpower needs to share its power with other nations on the world scale, strengthen international law, regulate global trade and business and so on,” Dr Pieterse continued.

“The policies adopted by the US affected its own citizens, as about 60 million Americans live below poverty line,” he maintained.