UNIPATH STAFF Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have begun the process of eradicating mines on their mutual border with the goal of reducing fatal accidents and opening more land for productive use. Separate sections of the 1,300-kilometer-long Tajik-Uzbek border were mined at the end of the 1990s at the instigation of the Uzbek government to prevent incursions of militants from the terrorist group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Unofficial sources suggest the total mined area is about 9.5 square kilometers. Over the past 18 years, 474 people have died from stepping on mines; many more were wounded. Fifty-four sections of the border area…
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UNIPATH STAFF U zbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has pledged to improve human rights, reduce restrictions on travel, and make government more responsive to citizens. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, sent representatives to the country for the first time in seven years to interview government officials, civil society activists, former prisoners and ordinary citizens. The group noted a greater tolerance in Uzbekistan for journalists, religious figures and opposition groups. Another democracy-promoting organization, Freedom House, praised Uzbekistan for loosening control of the media and allowing more public criticism of government officials. Along the same lines, President Mirziyoyev established a…
UNIPATH STAFF Egypt conducted two separate military exercises with Arabian Gulf partners in April 2018. Khalifa 3 was a bilateral exercise held in early April with the naval and air forces of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The forces gathered at a base on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. Egyptian military spokesman Col. Tamer El-Rifai said the goal of Khalifa 3 was to improve military relations between Egypt and the UAE by “developing the skills of commanders and officers to maintain combat efficiency and standardize operational concepts.” Later in April, a contingent of Egyptian special forces traveled to Bahrain for the…
Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of United States Central Command, hosted an iftar for Muslim Senior National Representatives (SNRs) during Ramadan 2018. More than 20 officers joined Gen. Votel for the formal dinner on May 30 at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida. They included 11 senior representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Jordan, Yemen, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Djibouti and Morocco. Also attending the fast-breaking dinner were several coalition generals and flag officers. The iftar was organized by the Coalition Coordination Center in U.S. Central Command’s Directorate of Strategy, Plans, and Policy.
UNIPATH STAFF Representatives from more than 20 countries expressed support for a peace process in Afghanistan between the Kabul government and the Taliban. The call for negotiations came at a conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in March 2018. It attracted support not just from Central Asian countries but also Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the United Nations, the European Union, NATO and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. There was only one problem: The Taliban refused the peace offers and insisted instead on continuing its terror campaign against Afghan society. Attendees at the Tashkent conference agreed that a process of…
UNIPATH STAFF The Lebanese Armed Forces opened a Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) center in May 2018 near Marjayoun, where Soldiers can provide educational, health, environmental and humanitarian assistance to civilians in the southern third of the country. The center — one of three in the country dedicated to encouraging peace and stability — was built with the support of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the government of Spain. Lebanese CIMIC Chief Brig. Gen. Elie Abi Rached expressed enthusiasm about working more broadly with UNIFIL peacekeepers. “We are going to conduct many projects here in southern Lebanon, which…
UNIPATH STAFF Pakistan Navy ship Alamgir rescued a stranded Indian fishing dhow in the Gulf of Aden in April 2018, one of the ship’s many contributions to regional security as part of the Combined Maritime Forces. The fishing boat had sailed with a crew of 12 from the Indian port of Colochel and lost engine power on open waters near Salalah, Oman, for eight days. The Alamgir appeared on the scene to help repair the engine and send the dhow on its way. After so many days adrift, the fishermen were also dehydrated and required medical care from the Pakistani…
UNIPATH STAFF In a nine-day demonstration of tactics by 40 special operations teams from around the world, Jordan’s Annual Warrior Competition 2018 concluded with a triumph by the Black Panthers SWAT team from the Lebanese internal security forces. The annual event — which tests individual and team skills such as marksmanship, hostage rescue, rappelling, and armed incursions — was held April 29 to May 7 at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC) in Jordan. It was the second time the Black Panthers took top prize after finishing first in 2016. Over several days, the competition whittled down…
UNIPATH STAFF After the collapse of the Soviet Union, all five Central Asian countries — Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — committed themselves to nonproliferation of nuclear materials, denuclearization and cooperation with international arms agreements. That process of eliminating the remains of the nuclear arms industry continues to this day. In May 2018, Kyrgyzstan held an international conference dedicated to safeguarding former uranium mines in Central Asia and reducing the public health threat from radioactive waste. European Union representative Michele Rivasi, speaking on behalf of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, called on the international community to help clean up uranium…
UNIPATH STAFF With hopes of becoming a strategic trade and transportation hub between Asia with Europe, Turkmenistan opened a major port in the city of Turkmenbashi on the Caspian Sea in May 2018. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that the port will improve maritime access to the Black Sea region, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Asia-Pacific. He added that the port would help achieve “integration into the international system of economic relations, enhancing Turkmenistan’s role as an important center for transit communications.” Berdimuhamedov expressed his readiness to discuss use of the port…