Dubai: Daesh militants are being pummelled across Syria and routed to rural corners of the war-torn country, but it’s far too early to celebrate in the war against terrorism, delegates heard at the Arab Strategy Forum on Wednesday in Dubai.
Speaking at the one-day forum, Leon Panetta, former director of the CIA and former US Secretary of Defence, said the year ahead will continue to be dominated by terrorist groups bent on disrupting global politics and economies.
The Arab Strategy Forum was launched in 2001 under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as a platform to foresee the future and identify potential economic and political trends globally and across the Arab world.
Panetta suggested that a new Middle East coalition of Arab countries be formed to destroy terrorism and help counter-terrorism incursions in failed states.
Flanked by co-panellist and former British Prime Minister David Cameron, Panetta said that establishing a broad Arab coalition would “confront terrorism and the threat of Iran”.
“The coalition could be a powerful signal to Iran that it can’t go into countries as it did in Yemen and Syria,” Panetta said.
Panetta said the US has been at war against terrorism for 15 years since the 9/11 attacks and noted that 2017 will be a tough year with the presence of terrorist groups still in play such as Daesh, Boko Haram and Al Shabab.
“Terrorism continues to pose a threat to this region and the world,” Panetta said, noting that “we have to make very clear to Iran they can’t continue to support elements of terrorism in the region”.
Cameron agreed that greater cooperation is needed to fight terrorism, pointing out that “I believe we can win against extremist Islamist violence. Today there is a greater understanding of what is required. The key question is whether political will follow this understanding”.
Both Panetta and Cameron pointed to a raft of uncertainties that await in the new year, including a new US presidential administration, expanding social media influences and political upheaval in the European Union with election outcomes possibly electing right-leaning governments.
Of President-elect Donald Trump, who is to be sworn in next month, Panetta said the world is holding its breath, unsure of the new policies he will roll out in the new year and how these will impact governance around the world.
“The most predictable thing about Donald Trump is that he is unpredictable,” Panetta said. “Will it be the showman or the businessman who is trying to get things done for the country? People are asking what course will he take?”
Panetta said Trump will have to engage the 535-member Congress and work through a set of checks and balances that were set up by US forefathers to protect against centralisation of power in the Oval office.
