U.S. ploy to promote arms sales

M M Ali
The deployment of US Fifth Fleet and Air Force bombers in
It may be too early to comment how will the Americans unfold and execute their latest game plan for the region but one can always ask to what extent the war of words and the ongoing rhetoric reflect upon development at the ground level.
A discussion on certain issues and developments
A ploy for arms sale
In response to National Security Advisor John Bolton’s May 5 statement that the forces were being dispatched to the Gulf in response to “a number of troubling and
“The Abraham Lincoln Strike Group was planned to deploy for some time now,” Richardson told the Sea Air Space conference, just a day after Bolton’s statement. He touted
How the Trump administration was using the unspecified Iranian threat as a ploy for extracting billion dollars arms sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is revealed in a report of the New York Times on May 28.
‘The Trump administration is preparing to circumvent Congress to allow the export to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of billions of dollars of munitions that are now on hold, according to current and former American officials and legislators familiar with the plan,’ the NYT report said.

‘Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and some political appointees in the State Department are pushing for the administration to invoke an emergency provision that would allow President Trump to prevent Congress from halting the sales, worth about $7 billion. The transactions, which include precision-guided munitions and combat aircraft, would infuriate lawmakers in both parties,’ the report added.
Game changer
Located barely 72 km away from each other in the deep-sea, Chabahar in Iran and Gwadar port in Pakistan
Close to the Straits of Hormuz, the Gwadar port – allows China to access the Indian Ocean that the Soviet Union used to dream of back in the cold war era. It will facilitate China to monitor
On the other hand, Chabahar port in
Chabahar Port: The U.S. State Department exempted the Iranian port from its sanctions on the country
Built largely by India and inaugurated in 2017, the port provides a key supply route for Afghanistan while allowing India to bypass rival Pakistan to trade with Central Asia.
Most of Afghanistan’s imports and exports currently go through Pakistan, which Kabul accuses of harboring the Afghan Taliban.
An Iranian official was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that IPGL had been granted the lease for “a temporary period of 18 months and a ten-year period
The official added that IPGL’s management would include “loading and unloading, supplying equipment and marketing.”
New Delhi has already pumped USD 2 billion into development in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban’s government.
CENTCOM: the portion of the US military responsible for protecting American security interests in an area stretching from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia. The region monitored by this command encompasses 20 countries including Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and northern Red Sea and five Republics of Central Asia.
The region for which CENTCOM is responsible contains some of the most economically depressed and politically unstable areas in the world. It is also an area characterized by a great deal of terrorist activity and is home to many terrorist organizations. As a result, the command has taken a lead role in combating the emerging threat posed by international terrorism while continuing to pursue peaceful engagements through humanitarian operations.
Since its inception, CENTCOM has been responsible for several operations, including two conflicts between the US and Iraq—Operation Desert Storm (1991) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–11)—and the Afghanistan War which began in 2001 and continues till date.
Is the stage set for US exit from Afghanistan?
With the deployment of the US Fifth Fleet and Air Force bombers in the Persian
Narendra Modi’s return to driver’s seat in India with a thumping majority even after reports of repression of minorities in India during his first term and particularly in Kashmir and the ISIS presence in Afghanistan offer a grand opportunity for the spread of the conflict in the region following the US exit from Afghanistan.
Will this allow India a permanent role in Afghanistan and counter China in the regional affairs?
The writer is a Dhaka-based journalist (his contact: [email protected]