Situation in Fata also to affect Gulf states, warns Gates Gates

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates has warned Persian Gulf states that they cannot afford to be oblivious to the danger of extremism emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Speaking to the defence chiefs of 11 Gulf countries at a conference in Washington, Mr Gates encouraged cooperation against common threats that span national borders like Iran’s nuclear programme and terrorist networks operating in the region, as well as in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Gulf States, he said, need to work together and with the United States also to contain Iranian ambitions in their region.
‘The serious security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan … also has important implications for the Middle East,’ he said.
Although Afghanistan was outside the regional focus of this conference, it’s nonetheless a vitally important topic for Gulf security interests, he added.
Mr Gates noted that al-Qaeda and its ideology were incubated in the failed state of Afghanistan; the extremists had now largely returned their attention to the Pak-Afghan region in the wake of reversals in Iraq.
‘As we have seen from attacks and al-Qaeda planning and activities across the Middle East and Europe, the danger reaches far beyond the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan,’ he said.
Mr Gates told the Gulf defence chiefs that the situation in Afghanistan could not be addressed in isolation from its neighbours.
‘To a considerable degree, the Taliban resurgence began when Pakistan made peace agreements with various insurgent and extremist groups on its western border,’ he said.
‘This allowed them more freedom of movement and an effective base of operations (but) that approach by the Pakistani government has come to an end.’
Mr Gates said that the Pakistanis now recognised that the extremists posed a direct threat to their national survival and this led to the recent offensive by the Pakistani military in the Swat Valley.
The US defence secretary described the Swat offensive as ‘an encouraging first step’ but said that Pakistan needed to do more to uproot extremists.
Mr Gates noted that the change of attitude in Pakistan was not a solitary development as he had seen positive political trends in other places as well ‘where the electorates gravitated toward parties that stand for pluralism, and away from parties that foment religious extremism.’
Mr Gates called on the Gulf nations to support Iraq, adding that would help curtail aggression by Iran, which he noted was meddling in Iraqi affairs by training and supplying militants.
‘The embrace of Iraq by its fellow Gulf states will help contain the ambitions of Iran,’ he told the defence leaders. ‘As I have said before, the Iraqi people want to be your partners. Given the challenges in the Gulf, and the reality of Iran, you should wish to be theirs.’