The following piece is authored by HAF Policy Research Fellow Suraj Pandit.

During the past 11 months serving as the Hindu American Foundation’s Policy Research Fellow, I have had the opportunity to attend several events on behalf of the organization. Recently, I participated in the Middle East Forum’s annual conference, whose theme was “America the Unpredictable.” 

The conference took place over the course of three days. 

The first began with a simulated exercise in which each attendee was assigned a role on a team representing an independent nation or an international body, while enacting a hypothetical nuclear arms race in the Middle East. The goal of the exercise was for us to understand the different actors involved in Middle East foreign policy and their respective interests in greater depth. I was assigned the role of the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose mission was to monitor nuclear programs in the Middle East and dissuade any attempts to arm such programs. 

As the conference continued, I had the opportunity to listen to various speakers from all across the world discussing the importance of effectively countering Islamist groups within the Middle East and in other regions of the world. Other panelists also spoke of their efforts to build a more stable Middle East. I heard about the struggles of the Kurdish and South Yemeni people from Diliman Abdulkader, founder of the American Friends of Kurdistan, and Summer Ahmed, South Yemen Policy Advocate and Diplomat, respectively. Both speakers discussed the experience of representing unrecognized states experiencing attacks from fundamentalist groups, such as the threat the Kurdish people faced from the Islamist State and Al-Qaeda’s involvement in the Yemeni Civil War. They discussed how education has been crucial to preventing the future radicalization of their respective populations. 

I also had the opportunity to listen to HAF’s own Samir Kalra, who expanded the discussion into the context of South Asia, where many Islamists groups have also originated from or taken root. 

While much of the conference had been primarily focused on the Middle East, bringing attention to South Asia demonstrated how interconnected the Islamist groups in both regions are and how they share similar goals and tactics that they utilize to further their ideological agendas in the West, including in countries such as the United States. 

Samir was joined on the panel by Sam Westrop, director of Islamist Watch, who highlighted the growth of groups such as Jamaat e Islami in South Asia and how their ideology has made its way into the United States.

Attending the Middle East Forum’s annual conference was a valuable experience for me to learn more about the importance of accurate research and advocacy in the political space. The simulated exercise, in particular, allowed me to apply knowledge gained from my research into an interactive experience with experts in the field. It gave me a better understanding of the role the United States has played in the politics of the Middle East, as well as the opposing points of view from adversarial nations. I was able to relate the exercise of looking at issues from different perspectives to my fellowship work, where I research issues affecting Hindu Americans. To effectively counter Hinduphobia, for example, it is important to understand the other side’s ideology to respond appropriately.

Attending the panels and interacting with the staff of the Middle East Forum gave me a deeper understanding of foreign policy and its impact on the domestic sphere. It also provided me with insight into the role MEF plays in informing the American public and the government about issues such as countering Islamism and how to manage the United States’ foreign policy in the Middle East. I am grateful for the experience and look forward to applying what I have learned in my future career in law and public policy.