Pakistan's Sharif Heads to Saudi to Discuss Yemen War
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Pakistan's prime minister will travel to Saudi Arabia to discuss the war in Yemen, his office said Wednesday, after the Saudi-led military coalition announced an end to air strikes against rebels.
A statement from Nawaz Sharif's office said he would make a one-day trip to Riyadh on Thursday, and welcomed the Saudi announcement of the end of the air attacks in Yemen.
Sharif will be joined by the country's powerful army chief Raheel Sharif, defense minister Khawaja Asif and other senior officials.
Pakistan has remained ostensibly neutral in the conflict which has pitted the forces of deposed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against Huthi Shiite rebels, whom Riyadh says are backed by Iran.
Pakistan's parliament earlier this month unanimously voted against complying with Riyadh's request for troops, warplanes and ships.
Sharif's trip is seen by some analysts as intended to pacify the Saudi royal family, with whom he has close personal ties after they sheltered him during his years in exile.
22 April 2015, 17:01
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Sharif told reporters that he is ready to send one hundred thousand young Pakistani men and women to fill the ranks of KSA's armed forces, which are presently staffed, below the rank of lieutenant colonel, by Bangladeshi workers. "We can give you good, solid, reliable troops of which KSA can be truly proud," he said by way of introducing his sales pitch. KSA is reportedly paying rockbottom prices for its armed forces, in the belief that the twenty-four Estonian fighter-jet pilots on its payroll are all that it really needs to defend its vital interests in the region and globally.
22 April 2015, 17:04
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Speaking of rationality in Pakistan, I like that "unanimously" in the next to last paragraph.
22 April 2015, 17:06
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KSA's Minister of Defense, Prince "Ralph" al Thani, told reporters that the KSA considers itself stable since none of the native members of its military know how to operate any of its extensive armory.
