I don't see this rationale being any meaningfully different than the US offer on join terrorism. Especially the bolded, with regards to US defence aid.
Being pro-active doesn't mean joining some foreign group with different interests than your own. This isn't about ISIS. While ISIS was beheading people and killing children, Saudis were invading Yemen. In fact, Iran has done MORE to fight ISIS than SA ever has or will do. A lot of money, support, and fighters for ISIS itself actually comes from the GCC nations as I am sure you know.
For SA, fighting Iran proxies is their main, explicit goal. It always has been as far as actions go. They want a constant lap-dog union that will go after Iranian interests wherever they may be, because SA sees the writing on the wall and knows that their oil hegemony is coming to an end. There is absolutely no reason to get involved with this proxy war.
What is Pakistan going to say ? I am not part of an alliance to fight terrorism.
On a lighter note.. one can imagine the Saudis being like the classmate that drags people into their own causes by making them supporters of self serving petitions:
"I want to make smoking legal near the classrooms... and even shabbir here agrees with me!"
And Shabbir goes like "Who Me? Doing what? Who's smoking? Thats Illegal?... What what?"
Appeasement ?
Do nations send their soldiers abroad & put them in harms way to appease another nation or a group thereof ?
How in your opinion will it help your nation if a ' token' force is sent to engage the ISIS abroad ? Will it stop their proliferation in your nation ?
Is the proliferation taking place through the foot soldiers of ISIS or through ' other sources' ? Will sending tokens abroad stop the other sources at home ?
Pak has been very intelligently been placed between a rock & a hard place by KSA. Either way its in a jam.
Your views ..
@Icarus ?
The best way to get out of the Jam is to state that it is part of the alliance but will act independently. First move being closing down the Saudi Funded extremist schools. Lets see how long the invitation lasts.
How does one be in an alliance & act independently ?
Closing down KSA funded organizations & schools is easier said than done . It should have happened alongside Zab e Azb. There is no point in tackling the bad men on the frontiers when more are being spawned daily at home.
True enough, but what can be done?
While you are correct in your assessment, but the problem is deeper than simple Saudi hysteria. There is a global shift happening which is replacing the world order which emerged after the end of cold war. New centers of power are emerging and US is trying to stay aloft of all this. For instance the US strategic policy shift towards East Asia and eastern Europe in order to contain China and Russia. These are tectonic changes in geopolitical terms.
Saudis have been a puppet of America since 1930's. And US is abandoning them since they see no role for them in the coming decades both because of the incompetency of Saudis themselves as well as because the only thing which used to make Saudis important to US is fast losing its previous importance; oil. With newer technologies such as shale and fracking, and with greater emphasis on carbon free economy, Saudi Arabia will be an over populated desert on the verge of famine. Do not be surprised if in coming decades, Saudis will be begging places like Pakistan or India for food aid.
Because of this, Saudis are trying to make themselves relevant to geopolitical matters, playing a double game, trying to convince West that the world needs them to fight geopolitical fights with Iran. For this they are offering two versions of their "strength": violent takfirism and the idea of a Saudi Arabia commanding a "alliance" of puppets who accept Saudi Arabia as their commander by the virtue of them owning the holiest sites of Islam.
Saudis will fail. This game they are playing is way out of their class and competence. They are just bankrupting themselves. You might ask then why Saudis do not invest this money into an economy which can sustain them into the future instead of squandering it on such a game. The reason is very simple, because Saudi Arabia as a political entity is as artificial as a rose garden in the middle of desert. It has no legitimacy. The entire legitimacy of Saudi Arabia rests on a tribal agreement between house of saud and the the Wahabi ideologues. Under this agreement the house of saud was given political authority in return for their support of Wahabism. It is a symbiotic relationship. And it is brutal and perpetually getting even more brutal.
The moments Sauds try to reform or distance themselves from Wahabism, their political legitimacy ends. That is why Sauds have to allow Wahabis wreak havoc around the world in order to keep their throne. That is why they will have to fight Iranian interests in order to remain legitimate rulers. And that is why they feel so scared to abandoned by United States since without American support, Saudis will not be able to survive even for three weeks and now that Americans have told them to go and forage for themselves, they are finding it damn hard to live on their own.
True, but I would be more specific. This isn't about ISIS for KSA, or even half the nations mentioned, but it is for Pakistan...okay that's half true, the other half is about repairing the damaged bridge that was cause last time Pakistan refused.
Nothing.
Sadly,
Nothing.
Because you & I can debate these ideals but at the end those in the corridors of power have much more self serving or self aggrandizing ideals driving them.
The only thing that will change is when the mistake smacks them in their face, or leads to the eventuality that we all fear now and they will then realize.
You cannot convince them that they are wrong, nor those that support them that they are wrong.
One does it tactfully as the Turks did(until Erdogan went full Sultan) in this recent Syrian conflict. Lessons learnt from the s Yemen "NO" can be applied if they were ever learnt. All it takes is saying "Inshallah".
However, as is clearly evident; there is less of the utopian ideal and more of the mix of intelligence, foolhardiness and overcautious movement that is the hallmark of most Leadership that is build on Compromise.
Let it be clear. Despite the media "analysis" and that of NYT, WSJ or Time magazine; The Army does not control Pakistan.
Both it and the civilians play a game of "Who blinks first". The Army may seem to have the upper hand, but that is a sweaty upper hand that fears a sudden backlash. The Politicians may seem weak or bought out, but that is the act of a cornered cat that is trying to less aggressive whilst it searches for an exit. Both are fearful of the other: the Cat of being attacked in its most vulnerable and the other afraid of a violent backlash by the cat,
Who says that be put in harms way? And such things happen all the time. An example, a number of nations went into Iraq and Afghanistan during their invasions, but a lot of them saw little to no action.
They're not meant to engage them abroad. Please read my comments before typing this, I've already addressed this.
Already addressed.
And what will KSA do if it is rejected? They'll get pissy, but nothing will change much in terms of ground reality.
In Pakistan, we may have different mindsets like military policy, civilian policy, NGO policy, fundamentalist policy etc. Everygroup in Pakistan have their own policy but in India, they have only one policy, "AKHAND BHARAT" and the domination of "HINDUVTA"
I think the example given by you is not applicable in the context of ISIS. There were no Iraqis or afghanis at home whom nations who sent troops had to fear.
In this case the ground work by ISIS is well underway.
In any case what would troops be sent for if they were not to engage the ISIS ? The fact that they have been sent would be sufficient for ISIS protagonists to have the tails up .
What then in your mind would be the role of troops sent ?
Are you sure ?
KSA funded elements have deep roots in your nation.
Joining a military alliance is not like accepting an invite for dinner. Mere ' Inshallah' wont do.
Once joined, nations will be asked to put their troops where their mouth is.
The easiest thing is to bite the bullet & pull out of the alliance. It would imply putting your cards on the table once & for all.
Actually it would. It is the same Inshallah Pakistan gave KSA for years regarding Iran.
Good luck
Oh it is needed. After all.. the power of Inshallah(and not God's will itself) is truly limited by the gullibility of the target.
