Pakistan declines to join Saudi Arabia's anti-Iran alliance
Saudi Arabia's campaign to build a broad Sunni alliance to contain Iran has apparently suffered at least a setback from Pakistan. Islamabad has opted, at least for now, to
avoid becoming entangled in the sectarian cold war between Riyadh and Tehran.
Earlier this month, Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif was invited to the kingdom for urgent talks with King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and his advisers. The king met Sharif at the airport to underscore the importance of the talks. The main topic was Iranian aggression in the Arab world and the impending deadline for the P5+1 negotiations on Iran's nuclear project. The king wanted firm assurances from Sharif that Pakistan would align itself with Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Arab allies against Iran, especially in the proxy war now underway in Yemen.
Salman specifically wanted a Pakistani military contingent to deploy to the kingdom to help defend the vulnerable southwest border with Zaydi
Houthi-controlled north Yemen and serve as a trip-wire force to deter Iranian aggression. There is precedent for a Pakistani army expeditionary force in Saudi Arabia. After the Iranian Revolution, Pakistani dictator Mohammad Zia ul-Haq deployed an elite Pakistani armored brigade to the kingdom at King Fahd's request to deter any threats to the country. In all, some 40,000 Pakistanis served in the brigade over most of a decade. Today only some Pakistani advisers and experts serve in the kingdom.
According to Pakistani sources, Sharif has reluctantly decided not to send troops to Saudi Arabia for now. Sharif promised closer counterterrorism and military cooperation but no troops for the immediate future. Pakistan also declined to move its embassy in Yemen from Sanaa to Aden as the Saudis and the Gulf Cooperation Council states have done to distance themselves from the Houthis.
The Pakistanis are arguing their military is already overstretched facing the traditional enemy, India, and the increasing threat from the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistan has its own serious sectarian tensions and violence. About 20% of Pakistanis are Shiite and sectarian violence has been intensifying in recent years. Groups linked to al-Qaeda such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have targeted Shiite mosques and schools for suicide bombings. Iran also has proxies in Pakistan that have attacked Sunni targets in the past. Faced with these difficulties at home, Sharif is telling Salman not now for troops.
Sharif is by nature a cautious man and a very deliberate decision-maker. He is carefully leaving open the option of deploying troops to the kingdom in the future if the security situation gets worse. He will also be clear with the king that Pakistan remains a close Saudi ally. The ambiguous and mysterious Pakistani nuclear connection with Saudi Arabia will remain in the background.
The king has doubled down on his Egyptian connection this month.
Crown Prince Muqrin pledged $4 billion in investment in Egypt at the Sharm el-Sheikh conference this week, and Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates each pledged the same. But Egypt, too, is reluctant to send troops, especially for operations around Yemen. Egyptians still have bitter memories of their disastrous intervention in Yemen in the 1960s. Ironically, the Egyptians then were fighting Saudi-backed Zaydi royalists.
So for now Saudi Defense Minister Prince
Mohammed bin Salman, the king's son, will have to plan on dealing with Houthi threats on the border alone with Saudi troops. They have not fared well in past clashes with the Houthis
Pakistan declines to join Saudi Arabia's anti-Iran alliance - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
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‘Pakistan won’t rush to join anti-Iran alliance’
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided against taking sides in the emerging situation in the Middle East – at least for now.
“Pakistan would not rush to join the anti-Iran alliance that is being forged,” a senior government functionary told Dawn in a background interview.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last week visited Saudi Arabia on what the government described as a special invitation of Saudi King Salman Bin Abulaziz.
The invitation for Mr Sharif was part of diplomatic consultations Riyadh started in view of the evolving situation. Other Muslim leaders that the King met over the past few weeks included the presidents of Palestine, Egypt and Turkey, the Jordanian king, emirs of Kuwait and Qatar and the UAE leader.
King Salman’s discussions with Mr Sharif in Riyadh centred on Saudi concerns about Tehran’s expanding influence in the region, the official, who had been briefed about the visit, said, adding that the threat from the self-styled Islamic State also came up in the talks.
Mr Sharif, while agreeing to strengthen relations with Saudi Arabia during the visit, also committed to intensifying security and counter-terrorism cooperation.
The government, however, after evaluating the pros and cons, the official claimed, decided on staying neutral and playing the “role of a unifier” in Ummah.
“We cannot afford to involve ourselves in the disputes among the Muslim countries,” he explained.
While it remains to be seen how Pakistan government acts in the coming days, some of the decisions taken so far indicate that it is not getting itself involved in the Middle East.
The official disclosed that Pakistan had decided not to spare any troops for Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan currently has a few military trainers and advisers in Saudi Arabia. There would not be any major increase in those numbers despite Saudi leadership’s intense desire for getting additional deployments, especially for guarding the border with Yemen.
Pakistan has got a fair reason for its decision as its troops are overstretched because of the domestic security situation.
Secondly, the official said the idea of relocating the mission in Yemen from Sana’a to Aden has also been dropped.
“This relocation thing was discussed because everyone (other missions) was moving from there, but we have now decided to remain in Sana’a,” he said.
The decisions were not easy for Islamabad, particularly because of ‘the special nature of the relationship with Riyadh’, a large number of Pakistanis working in the kingdom and other economic interests.
Published in Dawn March 15th , 2015
‘Pakistan won’t rush to join anti-Iran alliance’ - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
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US conducts major military exercise in Persian Gulf
The US military is conducting a major military exercise with its Arab allies in the Persian Gulf this month, according to US Central Command.
The command announced that the drill would be held from March 8 to March 31, The Hill reported.
About 3,000 American forces would join forces from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the exercise.
Meanwhile, a French aircraft carrier is in the region with the USS Carl Vinson.
The Charles De Gaulle is under US operational command for the first time in the carrier’s history.
US officials say that the US military operation in the Persian Gulf and the presence of two warships are not related to Iran.
According to American and French military officials, the two warships are in the region to conduct airstrikes against the ISIL terrorist group.
The US and some of its allies have been conducting airstrikes against the ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria since last year.
PressTV-US conducts military drill in Persian Gulf
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سفر رئیس موساد به ریاض
وزنامه اسرائیلی «اسرائیل الیوم»، نزدیک به «بنیامین نتانیاهو» نخست وزیر رژیم صهیونیستی گزارش داد که «تامر باردوزار» رئیس دستگاه جاسوسی موساد دسامبر گذشته به ریاض سفر کرده بوده و با همتای سعودی خود دیدار کرده است.
بر اساس این خبر همکاریهای عربستان و رژیم صهیونیستی که سالها به صورت پنهانی صورت گرفته علنی شده و بعید نیست که در مدت زمان کوتاهی همکاری نفتی ریاض و تلآویو آغاز شود زیرا مقامات سعودی آشکارا از علاقه خود برای فروش نفت به اسرائیل خبر دادهاند.
سفر رئیس موساد به ریاض؛ اشتراک منافع عربستان و رژیم صهیونیستی در مقابله با ایران
الرئيسية - اسرائيل بالعربية