Islamic Military Coalition: Uniting to Counter Terrorism & Build a Better Future - Essay Sample

Introduction

Islamic military counterterrorism coalition is an alliance compromising different Muslim governments founded to intervene against ISIL as well as other terrorist activities. The coalition focuses on building a better tomorrow for future generations by spreading a message globally that reaffirms the Islamic principles, which are compassion and tolerance. The coalition counters the violent ideology by presenting the true nature of Islam through social, ideological as well as psychological reforms. It was established and announced by the Saudi Arabian defense minister Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud on December 15, 2015, with 34 members. The number of member countries has risen to 41, with Oman being the last country to join the coalition in December 2016.

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The coalition's acting secretary-general is H.E. Maj. Gen. al-Moghedi who began his career in the military in 1983. He graduated from King Abdulaziz Military Academy, after which he worked at Royal Saudi Land Forces. Al-Moghedi worked as an aviation officer, battalion commander as well as air squadron military officer. He has served as the chair of the Security Commission and Land Forces Intelligence. He has received career medals such as the Kuwait Liberation Medal and King Faisal's Medal. He has a Masters' Degree from Command and Staff College in Riyadh and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

General Raheel Sharif was appointed the Military Commander of IMCTC in May 2017. He studied in Government College Lahore and Pakistan Military Academy. He graduated from the Academy in October 1976 and joined the 6th Battalion of the Frontier Force Regiment. He graduated from the Royal College of Defense Studies, National Defense University Pakistan, as well as Canadian Staff College. He has worked as an instructor in Infantry School, Lieutenant Colonel, Parent Battalion Commander, Brigadier, Major General, and Lieutenant General. He played a very critical role as a Commander of the Army in promoting Pakistan's peace and stability. He also helped in the economic stability of the country by facilitating the secure movement of Cargo through the Pakistan China Economic Corridor.

Stake for Countries Involved

Different states where involved in the Islamic military counter-terrorism mainly from the Muslim world that is affected by terrorism, they agreed to work as a team with a united military intervention against the ISIL. There was political tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the coalition ended the tension. The member states developed initiatives that would end the terrorism challenges and prevent the terrorist groups from growing and expanding further. Among the initiatives of the council was forming a military initiative that would be responsible for fighting terrorism groups that carry out attacks against innocent people. The member countries joined the coalition on the basis that they would suffer the consequences of terrorism if they do not come up with measures to stop terrorism from growing further.

The states that formed the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition had different roles to play in strengthening the coalition and ensuring that it achieved the mandate it was formed to achieve. Among the top agendas of the coalition was to end the suffering that the people of the member states faced from the terrorist groups. The stake of all countries involved in the coalition included having their soldiers in the army involved in fighting and preventing terrorist attacks targeted to the civilians. The coalition had the responsibility of ensuring that the attacks were reduced by neutralizing the enemy criminals by fighting them in the areas that they are known to occupy to free the civilians. The coalition resolved that they should stop the terrorists from attacking innocent people by having a common approach to how they deal with the terrorists.

Member state countries also support other member states in developing their capacity to deal with terrorism activities by share experience, information, and expertise on the best practices that can be used in dealing with the challenge. Different states have different capacities in terms of being able to coordinate their operations in the fight against terrorism. There were challenges among member states on how they handled terrorism threats; hence the coalition improved their capacity and ability to deal with terrorism. The member states have improved their security after the formation of the coalition, where they have information and intelligence of possible attacks and prevent the attacks before they happen. The ISL terrorism group has been challenged by cutting their source of income that they use the resources to fund their criminal activities.

Pakistan was tasked with the responsibility to coordinate activities of the coalition in countering terror activities. Pakistan is more advanced in terms of its military capacity than other members of the coalition. All the member states contribute finances to fund the operations of the coalition, and the finances are managed by the members of the coalition who are nominated by the members of the coalition. Pakistan being the senior member, means that there are more Pakistan soldiers who are involved in the surveillance and military action against the ISL. All the member states have equal authority in making decisions of the coalition, and the decisions are arrived at through consensus. The coalition also gets support from external parties that are passionate about fighting terrorism.

The member states also strive to improve their security capability by strengthening the weak areas that are utilized by the terrorist groups. The member states have pledged to increase the security funding in their budgets to ensure they strengthen their capability to fight the terrorist groups. The member states get help from other members and the council when dealing with terrorism-related challenges. The support is to ensure that the unity of the coalition states is not challenged by targeted attacks where the terrorist groups attack one single country and pretend not to attack the other with the intention of breaking the coalition.

Challenges Faced by Country Involved

The member states of the Islamic military counterterrorism coalition face various challenges that influence and affect their capacity to fight and prevent terrorist activities from happening. The challenges include the continuous recruitment of young people from member states to the terrorist group who later return and carry-outs attacks against innocent people. The local youth know their home countries well, and they can identify weak points of the security which they use to carry out attacks against innocent people. The terrorist groups are using modern technologies such as social media to lure the youth into joining the organizations. The member states are struggling to deal with the challenge of convincing the young people not to join the terrorist groups.

The other challenge is the continued access to weapons by the terrorists where they use the weapons to carry out attacks and challenge the soldiers from the coalition. The coalition has been trying to control the access of weapons by stopping their source of funding and the sources where they purchase their weapons from. The main source of resources is mainly from illegal taxation from the areas that the groups control. For the coalition to win the war against terrorism, the coalition has to stop the source of funding of the terrorist groups and make the groups unable to purchase the weapons that they use to carry out attacks.

The member states also face the challenge of lack of support and coordination from other neighboring countries that are not among the members of the Islamic military counterterrorism coalition. The terrorist thrives in such countries by not attacking them to ensure they are not attacked and be forced to move to countries from member countries. The lack of support from non-member countries poses the challenge of being unable to attack and deal with terrorism because the coalition lacks the authority to carry out attacks within a foreign jurisdiction. The lack of support from non-member countries is a significant challenge in the fight against terrorism; hence measures need to be taken to have coordinated supported from non-member countries. Terrorism has gone global; therefore, all countries need to support each other in the fight against terrorism.

The membership of the Islamic military counterterrorism coalition is the challenge of countering violent extremism where people get radicalized, and they eventually join the terrorist groups such as the ISL. The coalition faces challenges in fighting the radicalization because the terrorism group uses various means such as the internet and recruitment in learning institutions where they cheat the youths that they will offer them employment to lure them into joining the terrorist organizations. For the countries to address the challenge of countering the radicalization of youth, they need to identify the reasons why the youths consider joining terrorist groups and their vulnerabilities that make them exposed to the terrorist groups and be radicalized.

The member countries also face legislation challenge where the relevant bodies are unable to fight terrorism because of the lack of clear laws that can be used to penalize the terrorists. The activities of the terrorists keep on changing, which is a major challenge to the existing laws. The lack of supporting laws also gives room for radicalization and recruitment of the youth to join the terrorism groups. The government needs to collaborate with the various stakeholders in the security sector to collaborative efforts and ensuring that all the agencies work as a team in the fight against terrorism.

Boarder Implications

Muslim countries such as Syria, Iran, and Iraq were left out in the meeting held in Riyadh in December 2015. Tehran has henceforth perceived the coalition as a sectarian formed against Iran and all the other countries that support it. The commander in chief of the coalition is a Pakistan Citizen, and Iran and Pakistan share a border. Iran, therefore, feels that the exclusion from the coalition was malicious, considering that Pakistan highly depends on Saudi Arabia for both economic and diplomatic supports. Pakistan needs to balance its involvement with IMCTC and its relations with Iran as well as Saudi Arabia. Islamabad should also advocate for Iran's inclusion as this would deal with Iran's perception of the coalition as a threat.

Iran's perceived threat from Saud Arabia has been increasing in the past two decades. The Iran government feels that the coalition intentionally left it out to depict the country as a sponsor of terrorists, thus having no interest in any multilateral alliances. Their perception is further strengthened by the exclusion of other Middle East Countries. Iran depicts the coalition, not as an anti-terrorism coalition but rather an anti-Shiite coalition. They, therefore, feel that the Muslim countries should come together to solve their issues rather than forming a coalition such as the IMCTC. The Policymakers in Tehran feel that the coalition affects the unity of the Muslim countries.

Islamabad has faced a dilemma of balancing its Saudi interests as well as Iranian interests. They are concerned about the Tehran perception regarding involvement in IMCTC. They are uncomfortable with the Iran perception of Pakistan as a threat to security. During the inauguration summit of the coalition, General Sherif responded by indicating that the coalition was not against any country and that Pakistan's membership is not based on sectarian lines. He further restated that Pakistan would, at no point, allow its army to be used in the Middle East proxy wa...