UNIPATH STAFF After Daesh released barbaric video footage in December 2016 of two Turkish Soldiers being burned to death in northern Syria, Bahraini officials immediately condemned the “brutal terrorist crime.” Manama’s quick response was the latest sign of a growing Bahraini-Turkish partnership aimed at fending off growing regional security threats. Bahrain and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members seek to deepen ties with Ankara, which they see as similarly threatened by extremism and sectarianism and motivated to combat these destabilizing forces. Since Turkey’s Justice and Development Party came to power 14 years ago, Ankara’s bonds with GCC members have warmed…
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UNIPATH STAFF Pakistan and Azerbaijan have for years enjoyed close economic, cultural and political ties. Pakistan was among the first states to recognize Azerbaijan’s independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the two countries signed a defense agreement in 2003 allowing Azerbaijani military staff to participate in annual military drills with Pakistani Armed Forces. As a part of the agreement, Azerbaijani naval personnel participated in the biggest Pakistani-led multinational exercise, AMAN 2013, in March 2013 in the Arabian Sea. In addition, Pakistan and Azerbaijan plan to hold bilateral military exercises, according to comments from Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz…
UNIPATH STAFF The Kyrgyz Republic finalized plans to hold joint military exercises with India in 2017, reiterating the need for a global partnership to combat terrorism. In a December 2016 visit to India, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid particular attention to the fight against extremism and efforts to enhance trade and economic exchanges between the countries. Both countries collaborate in conducting defense exercises annually. The countries are building the Kyrgyz-Indian Mountain Training Centre in Balykchi in the Issyk-Kul district of the Kyrgyz Republic. The center will provide instruction and training to personnel of the…
ANADOLU AGENCY Uzbekistan and Turkey discussed economic security during the February 2017 Turkey-Uzbekistan Business Forum organized by Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board in Istanbul. “We identified nine to 10 economic sectors such as agriculture, textile, electric-electronic, chemistry, tourism, and logistics,” Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said at the forum. In particular, Uzbekistan sought help from Turkey in the field of petrochemicals, Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov said. The country operates two petroleum refineries and is developing a third. “We hope to cooperate in petrochemistry with our Turkish partners,” he said. “We can work together in extracting and processing mines…
Agence France-Presse NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for boosting security cooperation with the Arabian Gulf states as the Western military alliance opened its first office in the region in January 2017. “It will be a vital hub for cooperation between the alliance and our Gulf partners,” Stoltenberg said at the inauguration of the center in Kuwait in the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah. The center in Kuwait City is based on the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), which was launched by NATO leaders in 2004 and aims to boost security links with the Middle East, in particular Arabian…
UNIPATH STAFF Continuing humanitarian assistance to Yemenis besieged by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the United Arab Emirates in January 2017 delivered medical equipment, food, toiletries and sanitary products to the port of Mukalla in Yemen’s southern governorate of Hadhramout. “The relief operation is being operated by the Emirates Red Crescent, the UAE’s humanitarian arm, to help Yemen,” said Abdullah al-Musaferi, representative of the Red Crescent in Hadhramout. The ship was the second in a continuous humanitarian sealift being operated by the Red Crescent, which is carrying out a range of relief and development projects in Yemen with the aim…
UNIPATH STAFF Huge smiles lit up the faces of the Iraqi children lining up outside the newly opened school in the Jadaa displacement camp. Many of these children had not seen a classroom in two years. The Iraqi government, the United Nations and their partners are slowly trying to repair the damage done by the Daesh terror group, whose rule had a devastating impact on a generation of children. Many parents simply refused to send their children to school during the Daesh occupation that began in 2014. The extremist group devised its own curriculum and printed textbooks that emphasized its…
UNIPATH STAFF As Daesh extremists are dislodged from strongholds in Iraq and Syria by military offensives, Jordan faces a growing threat to its border, according to Brig. Gen. Sami Kafawin, who commands Jordan’s border guard forces. He told reporters that he expects some Daesh fighters, increasingly on the defensive, to make their way to southern Syria and Jordan’s border. In response, Jordan is deploying “more and more forces” at the border to safeguard against Daesh, he said. Having observed a “big difference” in threat levels over the past three years, the country’s military leaders have deployed nearly half of Jordan’s…
UNIPATH STAFF Devastatingly accurate and destructive against the enemy, artillery has been an Afghan Army success story. Nowhere is this truer than in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces, where Train, Advise, Assist Command-East (TAAC-E) works with the Afghan 201st Corps to put rounds downrange. From artillery to mortars to air support, the Afghan colonel in charge of fire support is passionate about pounding his enemies into submission; his TAAC-E advisors are equally passionate about ensuring he has what he needs to succeed. Col. Ahmed Jan, fire support officer, 201st Corps, is a rare breed. A former Afghan Northern Alliance fighter, his life’s…
UNIPATH STAFF Turkmenistan discussed the possibility of selling electricity and natural gas to Pakistan during a 2017 meeting whose focus included construction of the continent’s biggest energy transmission project, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. Developed by the Asian Development Bank, the pipeline would transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and India. The pipeline, begun in 2015, is expected to open by 2019. With a new pipeline network, Ashgabat and Islamabad hope to reduce energy dependence on countries such as Russia, which controlled all TAPI countries’ export pipelines during the 1990s. The pipeline would also help…