SALTANAT BERDIKEEVA Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the new president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, signed an agreement to strengthen military cooperation during Tokayev’s first visit in his new role to Tashkent in April 2019. The agreement included collaboration in protecting the nations’ joint borders to address threats quickly. Both sides also granted landing rights to each other’s military aircraft at Uzbek and Kazakh airports. That will simplify aircraft maintenance and refueling when they are deployed far from their bases. The agreements build on a military cooperation plan reached for the first time in the history of Uzbek-Kazakh relations in 2017.…
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UNIPATH STAFF Kuwait and the United States reconfirmed their strategic partnership in March 2019 by co-signing a joint statement dedicated to further military, security, political and economic cooperation. Titled “Enhancing Our Strategic Partnership,” the statement reaffirmed both countries’ support for a Middle East Strategic Alliance, Iraqi reconstruction, peace negotiations in Yemen and humanitarian aid for displaced Syrians. Both countries agreed to continue modernizing and integrating their armed forces. The U.S. thanked Kuwait for hosting a meeting of the armed forces chiefs of staff of Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Egypt and Jordan, and the commander of U.S. Central Command in September…
UNIPATH STAFF Kyrgyzstani President Soronbay Jeenbekov signed a decree in March 2019 that included a promise to deepen the country’s economic and security relationship with the United States. Less than a month later, newly appointed Kyrgyz Ambassador to the U.S. Bolot Otunbayev met with U.S. President Donald Trump to announce a desire for improved relations between the two countries. Trump expressed readiness to work on a common agenda with Kyrgyzstan. Based on the Kyrgyzstani president’s decree — titled “On the concept of foreign policy of the Kyrgyz Republic” — the country is drafting a new cooperative agreement with the U.S.…
UNIPATH STAFF Kazakhstan’s newly appointed President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reaffirmed his country’s commitment to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in fields such as counterterrorism and economic development. In a meeting with OSCE chief Miroslav Laichak, who also serves as Slovakia’s minister of foreign affairs, President Tokayev, also discussed mutual efforts to achieve stability in Afghanistan. Tokayev, former chairman of Kazakhstan’s senate, assumed the presidency in March 2019 after the resignation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev after 30 years in office. In his new role, Tokayev reassured the head of the OSCE that Kazakhstan remained committed to active cooperation…
UNIPATH STAFF Three weeks of training between the Royal Army of Oman and the U.S. Army culminated in an explosion of mortars, mines and missiles in a dry riverbed near Rabkoot. It was the climax of the annual Inferno Creek exercise in February 2019, designed to enhance tactical proficiency and interoperability between troops of the two countries. “When we sweat together and we do training exercises like this, we all win,” U.S. Maj. Gen. Ben Corell said. “To build strong relationships … you’ve got to train together, you’ve got to sweat together, you’ve got to participate in the exercise, and…
Special forces Staff Col. Haidar Dhari Al Khayyoun has led men across Iraq Unipath Staff Col. Haider Al Khayyoun’s Soldiers had just rescued a squadron of their comrades besieged by Daesh fighters in Ramadi. He barely had time to relish news of the relief force’s successful mission when an enemy bullet punched a hole between two vertebrae in his neck. He collapsed to the ground unconscious. His men assumed Col. Haider — known as the Son of Sheikhs for his conspicuous bravery — was dead. But he wasn’t. “I was in treatment for a year,” Col. Haider said. “I was…
UNIPATH STAFF Neon Response 19 — the Bahraini/U.S. maritime exercise designed to protect Arabian Gulf shipping from explosives — was jarred by a real-world attack that reinforced the need for such joint training. The five-day exercise entailed disposal of explosives such as floating mines, providing harbor security, boarding and searching suspicious vessels, and close quarters assaults on enemy targets. As Bahraini and U.S. troops ran through their training scenarios, two tankers — one from Norway and another from Japan — were hit by explosions in the Gulf of Oman on June 13, 2019. U.S. and partner nation naval forces responded…
The Iraqi government is taking a unified approach to tackling this security threat AHMAD SAAD, AL HARIS Photos by Reuters Drugs are one of the deadliest epidemics for human societies, leaving in their wake destruction in all areas of users’ lives. People take drugs to calm, tranquilize or stimulate themselves. But drug abuse can cause addiction, leading to dire psychological, health, mental and social consequences. Drug use usually begins through curiosity and a thirst for experimentation, and the first experience gives the user a euphoric feeling. This initial feeling acts as a trap, gradually drawing in the prey until the…
Chiefs of Defense Discuss Ways to Aid Afghanistan and Build Stability in Central and South Asia UZBEKISTAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE Top military commanders from Central and South Asia reiterated that peace in Afghanistan — and stability in the overall region — depends on finding common ground to combat internal and external threats. This plea for unity came at a chiefs of defense conference in Uzbekistan’s capital of Tashkent in February 2019. Attending were the chiefs of defense from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and then-U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Joseph Votel. The conference was an opportunity to…
Reintegration of repentant radicals can aid the development of the country RUSTAM HAYDAROV, PH.D., ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN The epoch of confrontation between Tajiks must finally be completed in 2019. Starting from 2020, a new stage should begin, a new epoch of development of Tajikistan under the framework of national accord, strengthening the positive international image of the republic. All Tajiks need to unite and concentrate on the implementation of the fourth strategic goal of our state: expanding productive employment through industrialization. Today, the world is immersed in an era of globalization, which has both positive…