Double standards

The US has refused to hand over Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish preacher and the main accused in the failed military coup in Turkey, to the Turkish government. The US has demanded the provision of solid evidence against Gulen’s involvement in the botched coup. Ironically, when the Taliban government in Afghanistan demanded the same in the wake of the 9/11 attacks the US took unilateral action by attacking Afghanistan.

The US attacked Iraq over alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction. In fact, the US itself possesses three types of weapons of mass destruction – nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. The US pioneered the development of both the nuclear fission and hydrogen bombs (the latter involving nuclear fusion). The US has the second largest number of deployed nuclear weapons in the world, after Russia. The US is the only country in the world to have used nuclear weapons in combat. Moreover, the US is arming many regions of the world with missiles and weapons to counter the rise of China. It has no fear of arms race or arms proliferation in the world. Will the US end its duplicitous policies around the world and start practising what it preaches?

M Sayyad Alam Khan

Peshawar