By Frud Bezhan
Saudi Arabia
made a splash when it announced the formation of a 34-country
"Islamic" alliance against terrorism in December -- and followed it
up with a massive military exercise that ended in mid of March 2016.
The mainly
Sunni Muslim coalition -- which includes regional power and NATO-member Turkey,
the region's most populous state in Egypt, and nuclear-armed Pakistan --
appears formidable.
But Riyadh's
"Islamic Military Alliance" is missing Muslim powerhouses Indonesia
and Iran, and questions remain about the makeup and motives of the coalition.
High-Profile
Omissions
The exclusion
of Shi'ite-dominated Iran and Iraq, and their ally Syria, has fueled suspicions
that Riyadh is not motivated by the desire to combat terrorism.
"The
Saudis are motivated by their internal security and grip on power as well as a
sectarian and geopolitical rivalry with Iran," says Hayder al-Khoei, an
associate fellow at Chatham House, London.
Tensions have
escalated between Saudi Arabia and Iran in recent months – particularly in
January, when Iranian protesters ransacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and set
fires inside after Saudi authorities executed an outspoken Shi'ite cleric.
Riyadh and Tehran also back opposite sides in ongoing wars in Syria and
Yemen.
Khoei says it
is unclear how the coalition would tackle Islamic State (IS) extremists in Iraq
and Syria without the agreement of those governments.
Afghanistan
and Indonesia have both been invited to join the alliance but have not yet
accepted. Ten other countries have been invited to join the alliance but have
been dragging their feet.
Unlikely
Torch-Bearer?
The notion
that Saudi Arabia -- a country that has been widely accused of exporting
Islamic radicalism around the world -- could lead a fight against extremism
strikes some analysts as deeply ironic.
"In order
to really fight terrorism, the Saudis must declare war against themselves and
end the support it has been giving to radical groups across the world,"
says Khoei of Chatham House.
Micah Zenko, a
senior fellow at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, says that a
Saudi-led coalition fighting terrorism is like a "[drug] cartel leading a
counter-narcotics campaign."
Riyadh has
come under mounting international pressure over its air campaign against
Iran-supported Huthi rebels in Yemen, which is widely seen as a sectarian-driven
proxy war with Tehran.
Saudi Arabia
has also been criticized for its failure to go after clerics in the kingdom
that spread radical Wahhabism. On top of that, some critics allege that Riyadh
supports the IS extremist group.
And while some
of the biggest Muslim countries are outside the "Islamic" alliance,
some of its members do not have Muslim majorities. For example, around 80
percent of the West African state of Gabon's population is Christian. In Benin,
the biggest religion is Roman Catholicism, while the majority of people in Togo
hold indigenous beliefs. All these countries, however, do have sizable Muslim
minorities.
Caught
Unawares
When Riyadh
announced the military alliance on December 15, several of the countries listed
as joining or invited seemed surprised.
Indonesia's
Foreign Ministry said it had been invited to join a "center to
coordinate against extremism and terrorism," not a military alliance.
Lebanon's
Foreign Ministry denied having knowledge of Saudi Arabia's creation
of an Islamic antiterrorism coalition.
Pakistani
Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry was quoted in the daily newspaper Dawn as saying he
had been surprised to read of Islamabad's inclusion.
Pakistan,
which has strong historical ties with Riyadh, later expressed support -- if not
much visible enthusiasm -- for the coalition.
Pakistan's
role will be limited to providing training to troops from the participating
countries, sharing intelligence on terrorist groups, and helping member states
create counter-radicalization initiatives.
Frud Bezhan
covers Afghanistan and the broader South Asia and Middle East region. Send
story tips to [email protected]
Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the
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