Following on the recommendation of Pakistan’s United Nations representative to debate counter-terrorism during Pakistan’s presidency of the Security Council in January, a high-level open debate on a “comprehensive approach to counter-terrorism” was held in the middle of January. Addressing the meeting, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “Nothing can justify terrorism—ever.” The Secretary-General went on to say, “We have to drown out shrill appeals to intolerance and extremism with sound calls for compassion and moderation.” He also noted that terrorists and extremists are now exploiting social media networks “to radicalize people and spread hate.”

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, who chaired the meeting, said that the terrorism threat “is not for today or tomorrow, or for the next week or for a year. It is a long haul. We all have to brace for it. We all have to continue to prepare for it.” Minister Khar also noted that “terrorism would not be defeated by law enforcement measures, or intelligence operations or military and security strategies alone. Terorrists’ misleading, distorted and malicious narrative, and their demented ideology that justified the killing of innocents, must be quashed by the international community.”

Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, pointed out that “the diffuse nature of modern terrorism made it clear that long-term diplomatic and economic initiatives were indispensable.” She went on, “While we have made progress together, terrorist groups continue to adapt.” Ambassador Rice noted that, “the international community must do much more to combat the scourge; with the threats even more diffuse, the need for a comprehensive global strategy was more necessary than ever.”