RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a strategic partnership agreement with Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov during a visit to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2013. The document defines cooperation regarding politics, trade, economics, culture and transportation between the two Central Asian countries. After the talks, Nazarbayev described Uzbekistan as having deeply rooted cultural and historic traditions that influence cultural developments in the region as a whole. The Kazakh leader added that Central Asia’s regional security “greatly depends on cooperation between the two countries.” Karimov and Nazarbayev have long been viewed as competitors for a leadership role in Central Asia.…
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UNIPATH STAFF The Pakistani Army is setting up a permanent base in the Swat Valley, an area in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that has experienced violence stemming from terrorism and extremism, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced in early 2014. The Swat Valley drew international attention when a Taliban extremist shot young Malala Yousafzai in the head in October 2012 for promoting female education. Malala recovered and has become an advocate for ending violence through education. Taliban elements led by cleric Maulana Fazlullah took control of the district in 2007, waging a brutal campaign on the people that included…
UNIPATH STAFF Jordanian authorities have blocked a rising number of attempts to smuggle arms across the Jordanian-Syrian border, as terrorists and extremists attempt to exploit instability in Syria. According to The Jordan Times, Jordanian authorities have detained Syrian nationals attempting to smuggle dozens of anti-tank and surface-to-air missiles and hundreds of automatic assault rifles into Jordan. Authorities foiled 20 such smuggling operations in one month alone in 2013. “Investigations are underway to determine if they were trying to smuggle the weapons to sell them or to carry out terrorist acts in Jordan,” a Jordan military spokesman told Agence France-Presse. Security…
UNIPATH STAFF Developed in Japan more than 250 years ago, the martial art known as jiu-jitsu is being promoted in the United Arab Emirates as a way to train youth in self-reliance. “The strategy of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu Committee (UAEJJC) is consistent with the prudent vision of His Highness Gen. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and with Abu Dhabi’s Vision 2030 to build a strong generation able to defend itself,” according to an Emirates News Agency-WAM news release. The jiu-jitsu schools program has been growing…
UNIPATH STAFF In a move the country hopes will build stability and help sustain human rights, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs is expanding its network of community policing centers. The centers are aimed at building trust between the police and the populace and upholding the rule of law. Each of the centers has a community policing partnership team, and meetings are held with police and community members to discuss crime prevention, partnership building and problem solving. As of May 2013, Tajikistan had established 19 centers in nine districts with more planned for the future. The centers are part of a…
UNIPATH STAFF Members of the Yemeni Customs Authority received instruction in detecting suspicious baggage and passengers during an International Air Cargo Interdiction Training course in Cairo, Egypt, in June 2013. Protecting airports, seaports and border crossings is a key part of national security, and the Yemenis tapped the expertise of agencies such as the Egyptian Customs Authority and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection and Transportation Security Administration. Course participants learned tactics and techniques to inspect air cargo and process passengers to intercept contraband such as illegal cash, weapons and narcotics. The Egyptian, U.S. and Yemeni…
ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE A second center to improve the public’s access to environmental information is planned for the Kyrgyz Republic. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been supporting the establishment of Aarhus Centres for more than 10 years. The centers have been created to support the implementation of the United Nations Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, also known as the Aarhus Convention. There are currently 43 Aarhus Centres in 13 countries in Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. “The new Aarhus…
UNIPATH STAFF The creation of Iraq’s first national park is one way the government and people of Iraq are rectifying atrocities committed under the late dictator Saddam Hussein. In the summer of 2013, the Iraqi Council of Ministers created the Central Marshes of Iraq to help preserve the country’s important marshlands. In the 1990s, the Saddam regime conducted a campaign to drain the marshlands to punish the local Madan Marsh Arab population for backing an uprising against the dictator and eliminate hiding places for political opponents. Saddam ordered the killing of thousands of Marsh Arabs, slaughtered their livestock and initiated…
A Jordanian artillery commander finds a new calling as head of his country’s border guards Unipath Staff Jordanian Brig. Gen. Hussein Rashid Al-Zyoud spent decades as an artillery officer, but the real barrage began when he assumed his position in 2012 as commander of the country’s Border Guard Forces. More than 500,000 Syrians have crossed into Jordan, fleeing violence and disorder in the civil-war-wracked country that runs along Jordan’s 378-kilometer northern border. On the days he’s not personally visiting border posts near Mafraq, Jabir and Irbid, the banks of closed-circuit video monitors in Al-Zyoud’s office near the capital of Amman…
A coalition think tank provides vital analysis to U.S. military leaders By: LT. COL. MARIUSZ MINDA/FORMER POLISH REPRESENTATIVE TO THE COMBINED STRATEGIC ANALYSIS GROUP The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent declaration of the Global War on Terrorism ushered in a most dynamic chapter in history. The United States and its coalition partners launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. Because of their leading roles, various coalition partners quickly established national liaison elements at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters in the U.S. These liaisons eventually led to the creation…