Story highlights Shahed Amanullah says the ban signed by President Trump won't stop terrorists

The ban will further demonize Muslims and give Americans a false sense of security, he says

Shahed Amanullah is co-founder of Affinis Labs, a Virginia-based startup accelerator and innovation hub, and a former State Department senior adviser in the Obama administration. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) While working at the State Department from 2011 to 2014 on various strategies to counter extremism from overseas, I used a simple litmus test to judge the efficacy of my programs: How would these extremists respond if they were in the room with me? Would they be genuinely worried that what I was proposing would hamper their efforts, or would they explode in laughter at my naiveté?

Shahed Amanullah

With Friday's executive order , President Donald Trump has proposed a policy that he says will keep Americans safer by restricting travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen). And extremists around the world are laughing along with many others, because they all know what you should -- this policy will in no way stop determined extremists from inflicting harm upon America.

Ever since 9/11, politicians from both sides of the aisle have made counterterrorism a high priority, particularly when it comes to preventing terrorism here at home. A plethora of initiatives emerged with varying degrees of effectiveness, some taking the fight directly to the enemy and others focused on building resilience within communities at risk. But the rise of ISIS/Daesh, the distributed network of extremist content online, and the phenomenon of lone-wolf violent extremists suggests that those who wish us harm are more sophisticated than expected and continue to find holes in our defenses.

If this program was truly designed to stop terrorists, it would include places like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and France -- all countries from which people flew with the intent of carrying out acts of terrorism in the United States. But President Trump didn't include them in this initial list, and it's unlikely he ever will.

Why? Because adding countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey and other similar countries to the list will inflict severe economic, diplomatic and policy costs, including sinking existing anti-terrorism relationships with those countries which have proven useful in the past.

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