President Donald Trump has said the United States seeks “a coalition of nations” to stamp out extremism in the Middle East and urged Muslim countries to ensure “terrorists find no sanctuary on their soil.”
Speaking to Muslim and Arab leaders in Riyadh on Sunday, Trump said the war against terrorism was a “battle between good and evil” rather than a clash of civilizations.
“This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it,” he said in his first high-stakes speech abroad.
The Republican president said the Middle East’s potential has been held by ongoing conflicts and bloodshed, and called on Muslim nations to “honestly” confront what he called “Islamist extremism and the Islamist terror groups it inspires.”
“We can only overcome this evil if the forces of good are united and strong, and if everyone in this room does their fair share and…