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| Arabia |
| Soddies agree to strengthen security ties with Pakistan |
| 2006-04-17 |
| Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to broaden their security ties after a visit to Pakistan at the weekend by Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi crown prince. Plans include fresh deployments of Pakistani troops to the oil rich kingdom for security duties; training of Saudi military troops by Pakistan; and the possible first purchase of Pakistani-assembled tanks by the Saudis. Prince Sultan’s meeting with General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s military ruler, was preceded by reports that the Saudi military had this month begun carrying out tests of the Pakistan-assembled ‘Al Khalid’ tank. Western diplomats said discussions were continuing for the sale of up to 150 tanks in a deal which could be worth up to U$600m. Pakistani officials see the deal as a vital element in their push to increase exports of low-to-medium tech defence equipment. The country’s emerging defence manufacturing industry in 2005 exported arms worth about U$200m. “The intention is to expand Pakistan’s role to support the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in meeting its security needs” said one Pakistani official. “A number of ideas are under discussion which have to do mainly with what Pakistan can contribute towards improving Saudi Arabia’s security interests”. The intelligence agencies of the two countries are known to have regularly exchanged information on the movements of key al-Qaeda suspects, including the Saudi born Osama bin Laden - a target of prime interest to the Saudi authorities. Analysts said the timing of the prince’s visit was important as it coincided with a deteriorating security situation in Iraq as well as anxieties over tensions between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme. “Saudi Arabia has internal security challenges to meet, primarily the effect of the spillover from tensions surrounding its neighbours and reports of terrorist activity within its frontiers,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a widely respected Pakistani commentator on defence and security affairs. “Pakistan’s military has a history of performing security duties in Saudi Arabia. This is the basis of a relationship which the two sides now want to broaden”. Arab diplomats in Islamabad said Saudi Arabia was keen to recruit troops from Pakistan - a muslim country with a history of security services in the kingdom - to stem criticism from its public for hosting western troops. “There is much sensitivity in Saudi Arabia these days to the movement of western troops. Nobody likes the US presence in Iraq and there would be a lot of anger if western soldiers, especially US soldiers, came to Saudi Arabia in large numbers,” said one. Mr Rizvi said: “Greater acceptability of Pakistani troops by their public could be important for the Saudis as they seek to broaden their ties”. |
| Posted by:Phens Spaimp8136 |
| #7 Are the Saudi nuclear assets as well maintained as the Pakistani ones? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-17 20:29 |
| #6 This doesn't scare me too much. Kinda of like when the Klump brothers aligned against me. I kicked both thier asses and never had a problem with them again. United, divided, re-aligned with third parties or otherwise. Shouldn't be to hard to punch Pakistan in it's throat. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2006-04-17 15:57 |
| #5 Greater acceptability of Pakistani troops by their public could be important for the Saudis BS The Pakistani troops are there to safeguard "nuclear assets" transferred to Saudi Arabia - warheads and missiles. |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-17 10:39 |
| #4 who gets to define "surrounded"? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-17 10:27 |
| #3 Here we go...pieces being put into place. |
| Posted by: Jules 2006-04-17 09:19 |
| #2 Another tour of Kahuta? Centrifuge tourism? From 1999... The prince toured the Kahuta uranium enrichment plant and an adjacent factory where the Ghauri missile is assembled with Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and was briefed by A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atom bomb. The site is so secret that former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said she was not allowed to go to there during her tenure in office. |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-17 09:05 |
| #1 The intelligence agencies of the two countries are known to have regularly exchanged information... The Soddies and Pakiwakis together is like the Berlin-Rome axis. |
| Posted by: Spot 2006-04-17 08:26 |