Security cooperation: Broadening alliances
In June 2004, at its Istanbul summit, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched a special partnership with the Gulf region, called the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI).
Fawaz M Al-Sabah, Assistant Undersecretary, Kuwait National Organization for Security Bureau, Kuwait City
Rolf Schwarz, Senior Advisor Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Paris
In June 2004, at its Istanbul summit, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched a special partnership with the Gulf region, called the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI). The initiative was part of a broader effort, initiated since the end of the Cold War, to develop partnerships with non-NATO countries. Most importantly, these partnerships aimed to boost partners’ own defense capacities and their military interoperability with NATO, thereby helping the alliance project stability in its immediate and wider neighborhood.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks and in the wake of growing regional fears over Iran’s nuclear program, NATO sought to extend its partnership to the Gulf region with the aim of cooperating in the fight against terrorism and preventing possible nuclear proliferation.
The alliance was in a good position to do so: not only had it successfully transformed itself from a Cold War organization to one dealing with a new set of security challenges for the Euro-Atlantic region - the terrorist threat chief among them – it had also garnered experience in working with the Arab world, having conducted 10 years of Mediterranean Dialogue with Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Senior officials from four Gulf countries showed an interest in cooperation, but the follow-up work was more difficult – especially since few Gulf states had diplomatic representation in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered. Bahrain, for instance, initially had to instruct its ambassador in Paris to follow NATO affairs, and when this approach became too cumbersome, it acted through the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) delegation to the European Union in Brussels, a Bahraini diplomat.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the first Gulf country to open a liaison arrangement in 2008, sending a senior military person to Brussels, and, in 2012, it opened a distinct diplomatic mission to NATO. Other Gulf states (Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar) have since followed suit. Today, four regional states have joined the ICI, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Oman and Saudi Arabia, although invited, still remain formally outside.
Nonetheless, they do participate in some ICI activities, such as training courses offered at the NATO Defense College in Rome. The other four Gulf countries have fully embraced the initiative, which offers them practical bilateral security cooperation with NATO.
Most importantly, these states are working with the alliance to achieve interoperability and are seeking to strengthen their own defense capacities and capabilities. To this end, officers from ICI countries are allowed to participate in the Operational Capabilities Concept Evaluation and Feedback program (OCC E&F), which supports them in developing forces that are capable of operating according to NATO standards and procedures.
ICI countries also engage in programs to modernize their security institutions and train their local forces.3 In the future, NATO could invite officers from ICI countries to serve in the International Military Staff. In sum, these efforts aim to increase the Gulf countries’ abilities to
tackle their regional security challenges – both alone and jointly with NATO.
In the beginning, much of NATO-Gulf cooperation took the form of public diplomacy.
For NATO, it was vital to initiate a process of building mutual understanding of common security threats with the Gulf countries, integrating their militaries but also government officials, opinion leaders, academics, media and civil society representatives. As part of public diplomacy, ICI partners also conducted a series of ambassadorial conferences in the Gulf region. In this context, the North Atlantic Council visited Kuwait in 2006, Bahrain in 2008, the United Arab Emirates in 2009, and Qatar in 2010. In 2009, a Middle East Faculty was established at the NATO Defense College in Rome. A particularly innovative format of cooperation between NATO and the Gulf states within the framework of the ICI was launched in 2009 when a dedicated Middle East Faculty was established at the NATO Defense College in Rome.
In the framework of its Regional Cooperation Course, the faculty offers courses to officers and diplomats from NATO member countries and from the wider Middle East alike, covering security issues that affect both regional states and NATO countries in order to develop a shared understanding that may serve as the basis for concrete security cooperation.
The college also helps NATO to develop in-house expertise on Middle Eastern affairs. Even though they are not members of the ICI, the Gulf states Oman and Saudi Arabia are active participants in these courses.6 Most recently, a Kuwaiti officer became the first faculty member from an ICI country to join the teaching staff, which validates regional ownership of this initiative.
In January 2017, this educational outreach was further strengthened when a NATO-ICI Regional Centre was inaugurated in Kuwait. In the context of the inauguration, the North Atlantic Council conducted a meeting with the foreign ministers of ICI countries; this meeting was also attended by Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the secretary general of the GCC.
Just as in Rome, Oman and Saudi Arabia are automatically invited to courses offered at the NATO-ICI Centre and regularly participate in them. The initial hope that collaboration in the framework of the ICI would eventually lead to and facilitate practical cooperation between NATO and the Gulf countries was, in fact, borne out: ICI countries have increasingly acted as security providers, actively contributing to NATO’s efforts to project stability in the broader Middle East. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan is a case in point: in 2003, ISAF became NATO’s first ground mission outside of Europe; and from early on, it not only involved Afghan authorities but also around 50 non-NATO countries. Gulf countries were chief among them: military cooperation was channeled and facilitated by the ICI, with Gulf countries providing ISAF with essential political and logistical support.
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became troopcontributing nations, Kuwait and Qatar provided transport assistance, and all the ICI partners helped provide legitimacy for NATO’s engagement within the wider region. More precisely, Muslim countries’ participation in NATO’s operation helped overcome the prevalent perception that the alliance’s primary target was Islam rather than terrorist extremists. In this context, partnerships with Muslim countries helped boost the acceptance of NATO-led stabilization efforts among local populations.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also contributed to another NATO-led operation, namely Operation Unified Protector (OUP) in Libya, launched in 2011, by providing personnel and military aircraft.10 Thus it is safe to say, as several Gulf officials did during the opening of the NATO-ICI Regional Centre in Kuwait in 2017, that the ICI has actively contributed to global peace and security. Combining public diplomacy, political dialogue, education, and training with practical cooperation, as pursued first in Afghanistan and later in Libya, has helped build a relevant partnership between NATO countries and individual Gulf states – a partnership that has proven its worth on a variety of fronts, most notably in counterterrorism efforts, as well as in the ambition to work towards greater stability in the broader Middle East.
Yet, further efforts are required. Most importantly, NATO needs to stay active in matters of importance to the countries of the region. In its 2010 Strategic Concept, NATO committed to develop a deeper security partnership with our Gulf partners. Naturally, this also requires NATO to address the concerns of the sub-set of NATO members who prefer to focus on the alliance’s Eastern rather than its Southern flank. Recently, the targeting of oil tankers in the Gulf region, is another opportunity for NATO to play an active role by deploying or leading efforts to secure vital energy supply lines.
As the region will continue to strongly impact Euro Atlantic security, partnerships with Gulf states and other regional countries will remain of utmost importance. NATO has created innovative tools for managing its relationship with the region. Of these, the country-tailored approach to cooperation that allows partner countries to pick from “a ‘menu’ of bilateral activities” has proven particularly helpful.
It has allowed NATO cooperation to meet its partners’ national needs while still contributing to regional security at large. The alliance’s educational outreach to the wider Middle East through its Regional Cooperation Course is another tool of success. It could well serve as a blueprint for engaging other regions of strategic importance. Asia is a case in point, where education on security issues of common concern could help promote greater cooperation with NATO. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Kuwait National Security Bureau or the State of Kuwait, of the OECD or their Member countries.