Unipath Staff Iraqi, Kuwaiti and U.S. Forces Duplicate Real-World Threats During Maritime Security Training Maritime forces from Iraq, Kuwait and the United States completed a two-day trilateral exercise focusing on counterpiracy and maritime security in the Northern Arabian Gulf. The October 2023 exercise featured ships from all three countries. The Kuwait Coast Guard and Navy supplied patrol boats, a speedboat, a supply ship and a helicopter, and conducted joint patrols with two Iraqi patrol boats and the U.S. Coast Guard fast response cutters Robert Goldman and Clarence Sutphin Jr. The training missions focused on visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS)…
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OSAMA MOBAREZ, SECRETARY-GENERAL, EAST MEDITERRANEAN GAS FORUM Forthe past four years, the world has witnessed consecutive challenges and crises, starting with the COVID pandemic and then the Russia-Ukraine war, climate change, and also the Israeli-Hamas conflict and a very divided and polarized world. All these challenges have been sweeping the world, changing the norms and the way we do business. Energy has been at the forefront of all these crises, and we face an energy “trilemma” of energy security, energy sustainability and energy affordability. I believe the key to facing these challenges is collaboration, an example of which is the…
Kazakhstani and U.S. Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs Have Cleaned up Nuclear and Biological Waste Sites U.S. DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY After the 1991 disintegration of the Soviet Union and Russia’s subsequent hasty withdrawal, Kazakhstan’s new government faced tremendous challenges dealing with environmental reclamation, the closure of dangerous weapons of mass destruction (WMD) facilities, and health problems associated with a population that had been exposed to 40 years of WMD storage and testing. Quickly recognizing the scope of these problems, Kazakhstan reached out to the United States and the international community for help. Over more than 30 years of partnership and…
MAJ. GEN. MUSAAD EL-SHESHTAWY, EGYPTIAN ARMED FORCES The joint Egyptian-American Bright Star exercise is one of the largest and most important military exercises in the Middle East. Since 1980, Bright Star has sought to exchange expertise in several areas and strengthen cooperation to confront challenges, terrorism being one of them. Terrorism consumes those who produce it, those who harbor it, and those who support it. It has no nationality or religion. It is a global threat to both human existence and civilization. It has already affected every nation and community, and even great powers have not been immune to its…
A delegation of senior Iraqi officers tours the U.S. Army’s National Training Center Unipath Staff | Photos by U.S. Army National Training Center A high-level delegation from the Iraqi Ground Forces Command visited the U.S. Army’s National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California, from February 7 to 12 to inspect the training center’s techniques and facilities. The visit included several lectures on the role of the NTC in training units before sending them on missions in their various spheres of operation. The delegation also met with U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Curt Taylor, commander of NTC/Fort Irwin, who accompanied them on a…
UNIPATH STAFF The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan continues to modernize its Armed Forces and equipment, and to train personnel to raise capabilities and readiness, as the country faces several challenges, the most daunting of which are violence and drug smuggling on the northern border with Syria and eastern border with Iraq. Attended by His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein and a number of senior officers, exercise Resolute Response was conducted by Al Yarmouk Mechanized Brigade, one of the Jordanian Northern Command units, in September 2023. The exercise began by launching a drone, Schiebel Camcopter S-100, to surveil simulated…
The presidents of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan held their first trilateral summit in Ashgabat in August 2023 to improve relations in Central Asia. The main areas of cooperation among these countries are energy, transportation and agriculture, issues that, before independence from the Soviet Union, were left to decision-makers in Moscow. The three countries have pursued close cooperation in building railways and roads to bind together their economies. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have paid particular attention to the use of water and hydroelectric power derived from rivers that flow through more than one country. During the summit, Turkmenistan proposed a strategic natural…
UNIPATH STAFF Pakistan’s Armed Forces demonstrated a commitment to multinational cooperation through a series of military exercises that engaged partners from the Middle East and Central Asia in the second half of 2023. Counterterrorism was the focus of the Al Battar 1 joint exercise between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in September 2023. Special forces contingents from both countries — supported by combat aircraft — displayed their skills in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northern Pakistan. The location of the exercise was deliberately chosen because it is among the provinces most affected by terrorist violence. A second counterterrorism exercise, in Barotha,…
UNIPATH STAFF Ground forces from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and U.S. Task Force Spartan conducted the Arabian Gulf Firing Drill in November 2023 in the northern region of Hafr Al-Batin in Saudi Arabia. Aiming to raise the level of combat readiness, hone the skills of participating troops in carrying out combined operations and unifying military concepts, the drill’s scenarios included battle management, planning and execution, tactical firing by mechanized infantry units, air support by army helicopters, medevac, explosive ordnance disposal, sniping, and irregular warfare operations. Led by Royal Saudi Land Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Fahd Al-Mutair, the drill’s…
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan recently published a detailed statement on its website about its commitment to building a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Azerbaijan to Europe on the floor of the Caspian Sea. The pipeline would diversify energy supplies, circumventing potentially unreliable sources of energy like Russia and Iran. This project has garnered attention over the years because it would link Turkmenistan’s ample natural gas to major gas markets in Turkey and Europe. “Turkmenistan is convinced that there are no political, economic or financial factors preventing the construction of the gas pipeline,” the statement read. “On the…