Pakistan, Iran to hold military exercises

Ummah News ^ | November 13 2002 | Daily Times

[knighthawk]

Iran and Pakistan plan to hold joint military exercises in 2003, according to a new intelligence report.

Islamabad and Tehran have stepped up contact since the US-led war against terrorism, the report says. Both countries are working to find a foothold in a rapidly changing region, but their closer ties will not shut the door to working with others.

The report notes that the two countries have had "mixed relations" in the past, and previous military cooperation has been limited to minor maritime exercises, some training and small arms and ammunition sales.

"Since the United States launched its war against terrorism, diplomatic traffic between Pakistan and Iran has increased, starting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s November 2002 stopover in Tehran on his way to New York," according to the report, by news and analysis service Stratfor.

"Despite the two nations’ differences - they supported different sides in Afghanistan, for example - they share a common concern: how to deal with the growing intrusiveness of the United States. Both Pakistan and Iran have experienced the military and political power of the United States, and neither can oppose or resist too much."

The report says that the natural consequence of Washington’s growing show of force in the region is to draw regional powers like Iran and Pakistan closer together, in an attempt to keep their footing in the ever-shifting environment.

Tehran is not only talking to Islamabad but has also been working with New Delhi. India, meanwhile, is looking to strengthen ties with Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia and Oman.

The report adds: "The important aspect of these relations is their tentative nature. Each power is hedging its bets, opening new diplomatic options without closing any others. This is not a zero-sum game; rather, a country like Iran can work with India and Pakistan at the same time, shifting its weight back and forth between the two to better balance the power of the US. Opening these channels now is unlikely to have an immediate effect on the balance of power in the region; instead, it looks to the future. The natural tendency for the regional powers to form non-exclusionary relationships when faced with the overwhelming power of an outside force - in this case the United States - allows countries to remain agile in their regional and international relations. In the future, it could create opportunities to limit US influence and power."

[knighthawk]

The natural tendency for the regional powers to form non-exclusionary relationships when faced with the overwhelming power of an outside force - in this case the United States

I bet Pakistan will give Iran nukes like they did with North-Korea.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Eternal_Bear]

holding joint exercises against which perceived threat?

[GOP_1900AD]

Naturally, all rhetoric and post 9/11 posturing aside, both PRC Axis partner Pakistan, and USSR2 Axis partner / PRC Axis partner Iran, view the West, and the USA in particular, as their enemy. The sooner we realize this and jettison the self deceptive and needlessly ambiguous Kissengerian-Fukuyamaian world view that gets us into messes such as coddling Pakistan, allowing our capital to be stolen by the PRC and believing that KGB Putin is our friend, the sooner we shall begin to prepare for the real war.