Obama Urges Global United Front Against Extremist Groups Like ISIS

WASHINGTON — President Obama called on Americans and more than 60 nations on Wednesday to join the fight against violent extremism, saying they had to counter the ideology of the Islamic State and other groups making increasingly sophisticated appeals to young people around the world.

On the second day of a three-day meeting that comes after a wave of terrorist attacks in Paris, Sydney, Copenhagen and Ottawa, Mr. Obama said undercutting the Sunni militant group’s message and blunting its dark appeal was a “generational challenge” that would require cooperation from mainstream Muslims as well as governments, communities, religious leaders and educators.

“We have to confront squarely and honestly the twisted ideologies that these terrorist groups use to incite people to violence,” Mr. Obama told an auditorium full of community activists, religious leaders and law enforcement officials — some of them skeptical about his message — gathered at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House. “We need to find new ways to amplify the voices of peace and tolerance and inclusion, and we especially need to do it online.”

Key points in the terrorist group’s rapid growth and the slowing of its advance as it faces international airstrikes and local resistance.

But, Mr. Obama said, “we are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”

The European Union has put Mr. Bortnikov on its sanctions list because of the Ukraine crisis, but he is not subject to American sanctions. On Thursday, Mr. Obama will address foreign leaders gathered at the State Department to talk about their countries’ programs.

Vitaly I. Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, questioned the effectiveness of a United States-led global effort to counter terrorism, which he said would be counterproductive. “It’s only going to attract extremists,” he said Wednesday evening at an event at the Harvard Club in New York.

Michael R. Gordon contributed reporting from Washington, and Somini Sengupta from New York.

A version of this article appears in print on February 19, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Against Radicals, Obama Urges Global United Front. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe

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