Suhail A. Khan

Suhail A. Khan is the Senior Fellow for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Institute for Global Engagement and Senior Director for External Affairs at Microsoft).^[1] Khan was previously a senior political appointee with the Bush administration, and a conservative political activist in Washington, D.C.^[2]

Background and education

Khan was born in Boulder, Colorado, to parents who emigrated to Wyoming and Colorado from southern India.^[3] The oldest of five children, Suhail grew up in California, earned his high school diploma from St. Lawrence Academy in Santa Clara in 1987 (a private Catholic college preparatory school), a B.A. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991 and his J.D. from the University of Iowa in 1995.^[3]

Career

Khan served as Policy Director and Press Secretary for U.S. Congressman Tom Campbell (R-CA), working closely on legislation relating to health antitrust reform, religious freedom, the preservation of the Second Amendment, tort reform, gun control, the reform of race-based affirmative action, and the 1998 impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.^[4]^[5] After the 2000 elections, he aided the White House Office of Public Liaison in the President’s outreach to the conservative, think-tank, military and veteran and Asian-American communities.^[2]

He served as Assistant to the Secretary for Policy under U.S. Secretary Mary Peters at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where he was awarded the Secretary’s Team Award in 2005 and the Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement in 2007.^[6]

In 2010 and again in 2013, Khan led delegations of American and international faith leaders to Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp that operated in German-occupied Poland and the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, to educate faith and community leaders regarding the tragedy of the Holocaust during World War Two.^[7] Joined by Rabbi Jack Bemporad of the Center for Interreligious Understanding of New Jersey ^[8] and Professor Marshall Breger of the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law,^[9] the delegations visited the death camps, met with survivors, issued statements strongly condemning anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and pledged to fight religious bigotry.^[10]^[11]

Political activities

In a volunteer capacity, Khan was an active participant in the RNC’s 72-hour program and deployed to key races in states including Colorado, Washington, Iowa, Louisiana, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Khan serves on the Board of Directors for the American Conservative Union,^[12] the Indian American Conservative Council,^[13] and on the interfaith Buxton Initiative Advisory Council.^[2] He speaks regularly at conferences and venues such as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the Council for National Policy (CNP), the Harbour League,^[14] and the National Press Club and has contributed to publications such as the Washington Post/Newsweek Forum On Faith, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and Human Events.

Khan was interviewed,^[15] by Pastor Bob Roberts of Dallas, Texas, where he discussed Muslim-Christian interaction and his experience serving in the White House, and has appeared on the BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera, C-SPAN, and MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show as a conservative commenter.^[16]

Khan has been critical of anti-Muslim sentiments among conservatives and Republicans.^[17]^[18]^[19]

Trump administration

In 2015, Khan criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his anti-Muslim remarks.^[20] Khan criticized Islamophobic remarks by Republican candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump, arguing that they are damaging the efforts of the party to recruit Muslims.^[21] After Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, Khan stated "I’m not a Trump supporter; I initially supported Rand Paul," and "As a lawyer and conservative, I see that Trump’s comments have had a negative impact on the party."^[22] In a 2017 interview, Khan said of the Trump presidency "I'm excited for the nomination and confirmations of Justice Neal Gorsuch and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai". He also anticipated that the Trump administration would work on tax reform for small-business owners and the middle class.^[23] Khan was listed as an advisory board member of the "Indian Voices for Trump" coalition for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.^[24]

References

^ "Microsoft hires former Bush White House official". 21 June 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Suhail Khan - the Institute for Global Engagement - IGE". Archived from the original on 17 July 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
^ ^a ^b Suhail Khan unitedliberty.org ^{[dead link]}
^ "Feinstein Plans Bill to License Gun Owners / Senator says issue is central to her agenda for next term". 14 April 2000.
^ "IslamonLine.net". Archived from the original on 28 April 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
^ Suhail Khan globalengage.org
^ The Washington Post
^ "Center for Interreligious Understanding". Retrieved 23 March 2024.
^ "Marshall Breger Professor - Columbus School of Law". Archived from the original on 4 May 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
^ "Statement of Muslim American Imams and Community Leaders on Holocaust Denial". 18 August 2010.
^ "Muslim Clerics Who Visited Auschwitz and Dachau Slam Holocaust Denial". 6 June 2013.
^ "EXCLUSIVE: Conservative Board Unanimously Condemned Gaffney's 'Reprehensible' And 'Unfounded' Attacks | ThinkProgress". ThinkProgress. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012.
^ "'Limbaugh denigrated Indian citizens'".
^ "Harbour League -" (PDF).
^ "Glocalnet // Blog // The Muslim in the White House". Archived from the original on 17 July 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
^ "'The Rachel Maddow Show' for Friday, November 6, 2009". NBC News.
^ Khan, Suhail A. "Peter King's Witch Hunt". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
^ "Republican candidates mustn't try to divide Americans based on their faith | Suhail A Khan". The Guardian. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
^ Khan, Suhail A. "America's First Muslim President". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
^ Khan, Suhail A. "Islam Is All-American". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
^ Weaver, Courtney (27 November 2015). "Heated rhetoric unnerves Muslim Republicans". www.ft.com. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
^ Hatuqa, Dalia. "What did Muslims at Republican summit think of Trump?". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
^ Lippman, Daniel (10 July 2017). "BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Suhail Khan, director of external affairs at Microsoft". POLITICO. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
^ "Trump campaign creates coalitions to woo Indian-American, South Asian voters". Live Mint. 15 August 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2021.