Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism will collaborate with NATO in Middle East

[EgyptianAmerican]

It looks apparent that the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT) will work closely with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the Middle East and can be considered as an informal extension of NATO comprising of Muslim States.

Branded as “Muslim NATO” by media, IMAFT will collaborate, support and work with NATO authorities to deal with regional threats. The US President Donald Trump will speak his mind about the role of IMAFT while attending the US-Arab Islamic summit in Riyadh on May 21, 2017 and this Summit is actually an informal inaugural Summit of IMAFT.

The US President Donald Trump after attending the US-Arab Islamic summit would travel to Brussels on May 25 to attend the NATO meeting where the Middle East situation will come under discussion in reference to the US-Arab Islamic Summit.

While attending the US-Arab Islamic summit, President Trump is expected to talk about the role of IMAFT and how the United States, NATO and IMAFT would collaborate against terrorism present in the region. Interestingly, the biggest terrorist state in the world for the US Secretary of Defense James Mattis is Iran. After assuming charge of his office in February 2017, Mattis called Iran “the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world”.

The US-Arab Islamic Summit would also determine the Terms of reference (ToRs) of IMAFT that will be headed by the former Chief of Pakistan Army General (retd) Raheel Sharif.

Top level delegations of Algeria, Yemen, Turkey, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bangladesh, Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan and Pakistan have sent conformation to attend the Summit.

President Trump is expected to meet Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif during the US-Arab Islamic summit in Riyadh and this meeting is being considered “very important” to redesign the fragile US-Pak relationship though recent visit of the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to Washington already worked well and the US-Pak relations came out from a diplomatic pit.

Pakistan is playing well by keeping a balance between Washington and Beijing but imbalance in its relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran is perceivable. The appointment of General Raheel Sharif as the head of IMAFT raised questions in the Parliament of Pakistan when opposition parties expressed their serious reservations over this development but the government decided to stand with Saudi Arabia in the larger interest of the country.

There is no doubt that Pak-Iran bilateral relations are going through a bad patch since last one year but both countries are shy to accept this fact openly.

Iran is not comfortable with military support of Pakistan to the Saudi-led military alliance and expressed its apprehension over appointment of General (retd) Raheel Sharif as the head of the Saudi-led military Alliance while Pakistan believes that General Sharif would bridge relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and military Alliance would not be used against any country but only against terrorists.

Pakistan is optimistic that it can play a significant role to neutralize Saudi-Iran tensed relations.

Iran is neighbouring country of Pakistan but Pakistan cannot compromise its foreign relations with Saudi Arabia and the United States. Pakistan has diplomatic wedlock with Saudi Arabia since early 80s and three countries; Pakistan—Saudi Arabia and the United States fought together against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Islamabad always stands with Saudi Arabia and now leading IMAFT. This very fact is enough to understand that the US-Pak-Saudi relations are everlasting, time tested and more important to Pakistan than anything else.

https://dnd.com.pk/military-allianc...l-collaborate-with-nato-in-middle-east/129356

 

[The SC]

"US-Pak-Saudi relations are everlasting, time tested and more important to Pakistan than anything else."
Let's say "Very important"..
Pak-Saudi are the most important strategically, and Pak-China are the most important economically..
The US comes in with KSA, because the latter emphasises the importance of Pakistan..

 

[EgyptianAmerican]

"US-Pak-Saudi relations are everlasting, time tested and more important to Pakistan than anything else."
Let's say "Very important"..
Pak-Saudi are the most important strategically, and Pak-China are the most important economically..
The US come in with KSA, because the latter emphasises the importance of Pakistan..

True nonetheless I like the idea of the IMAFT working with NATO. There is a lot we could do together.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

True nonetheless I like the idea of the IMAFT working with NATO. There is a lot we could do together.

Hopefully this will help to end the threat of terrorism in the Middle East over the next decade or so, and once the region starts large-scale rebuilding efforts (especially in Iraq/Syria) that will provide a massive boost to the global economy too. Raising living standards not just in the region but maybe across the whole world.

More cooperation is always better than less.

 

[The SC]

True nonetheless I like the idea of the IMAFT working with NATO. There is a lot we could do together.

It was long due..at least the Muslim countries involved will have a say on the ground and not let NATO decide alone without taking into account the interest of the whole region and the ramifications on neighbouring countries of any future interventions.. , it is a question of interests.. So with both NATO and IMAFT working together we will see more positive results instead of chaos..

 

[YeBeWarned]

Will Trump be meeting Raheel Sharief too ? Interesting times ahead, maybe this Alliance will make a good effect on US-Pak relations, and hopefully this Alliance will replace US forces in Afghanistan too , If that Happens it will be such a Victory for Pakistan and region .