US President Donald Trump's incoming cabinet has begun talks with the interim government in Bangladesh, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who is currently in New Delhi for a high-profile security conclave - the Raisina Dialogue.
She claimed the situation in Bangladesh remains 'a central focus area of concern' for the Trump administration.
Asked about alleged persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh by Vishnu Som for NDTV World, Gabbard said, "The longtime unfortunate persecution, killing, and abuse of religious minorities like Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and others has been a major area of concern for the US government and President Trump and his administration."
She went on to say that the new, incoming US Cabinet under Trump has just begun talks with Dhaka.
"The talks are just beginning between President Trump's new cabinet coming in and the Government of Bangladesh, but this continues to remain a central focus area of concern," she said
Acknowledging the threat of Islamic extremism and terrorist elements in Bangladesh, she then pivoted to present her view of the global picture of Islamic extremism, straying dangerously close to Islamophobia.
Bangladesh dismisses Tulsi Gabbard's remarks as misleading and damaging
"The threat of Islamist terrorists and the global effort of different terror groups are routed in the same ideology and objective - which is to rule or govern with an Islamist Caliphate," she said, adding that "This obviously affects people of any other religion, other than the one that they find acceptable, and they chose to carry this out with terror and very violent ways and means."
Gabbard went on to say that President Trump is determined to identify and defeat such an ideology and end the rise of what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism".
"President Trump remains committed to identifying the ideology that drives Islamist terrorism, and working to defeat this ideology and their ability to exact that terror on people," she said.
Gabbard is on a multi-nation trip to the Indo-Pacific that will also take her to Japan, Thailand and France. On Tuesday she will deliver a keynote address at the Raisina Dialogue, India's flagship conference on geopolitics.
Meanwhile, reacting to the remarks made by DNI Tulsi Gabbard, the interim government of Bangladesh
said groundlessly linking Bangladesh to the idea of an "Islamist caliphate” undermines the hard work of countless Bangladeshis and their friends and partners around the world who are committed to peace, stability and progress.