For the last two days, a senior Bangladesh Army officer has been in Doha to hold detailed discussions with the Qatari security establishment on the possibilities of deploying about 1,000 troops at a particular location in the Arab state, Northeast News has reliably learnt.
Well-placed Bangladesh government sources said that Lieutenant General S M Kamrul Hassan, the Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces Division under the office of Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus, reached Doha on November 16 to hold talks with the Qatari and US officials based there.
It may be recalled that Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman was earlier scheduled to go on a five-day visit to Saudi Arabia beginning October 14. This visit was cancelled almost at the last moment as Gen Zaman got embroiled in meetings related to the arrest, confinement and initiation of legal proceedings against 14 Army officers last month.
Gen Zaman’s Saudi Arabia visit was aimed at discussing the possibility of sending Bangladeshi soldiers for a peacekeeping mission at a certain location in the Islamic kingdom where some 7,000 US troops are currently stationed. These American troops are scheduled to move out in the next few months.
Lt Gen Hassan’s Doha visit is primarily to convince Qatari security officials to consider the Bangladesh Army’s interest in sending about 1,000 troops for a mission to replace American troops in the Islamic monarchic state headed by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Reports indicate that the US operates a network of military sites across at least 19 locations, including eight permanent bases in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Altogether, there are about 40,000 to 50,000 US troops in West Asia. These include soldiers located in permanent bases and smaller forward sites. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE have the bulk of the US troops.
In the event of a positive move on the part of the Qatar authorities, Bangladesh will take the opportunity to send its troops, which have had a long history of performing peacekeeping missions under the aegis of the United Nations.
In June this year, the US reportedly removed nearly 40 military aircraft from Al Udeid airbase in Qatar. The airbase hosts about 8,000 US personnel and serves as a forward headquarters for CENTCOM (Central Command), besides supporting missions across a few locations in West Asia. Nearby Bahrain is the home base of the US Sixth Fleet.
The Bangladesh Army has years of experience in UN peacekeeping missions in countries that have been adversely impacted by violent conflict. Bangladesh is one of the top contributors of personnel to UN peacekeeping, with thousands of its service members deployed in various roles across multiple missions.
AFD reports say that 6,359 UN peacekeepers from the Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force are deployed in eight ongoing UN Peacekeeping Operations across countries. Among these, 5,500 personnel from the Bangladesh Army are now deployed in various contingents or as staff officers/military observers in nine peacekeeping missions.
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The Bangladesh Navy’s ships and watercraft are deployed in UNIFIL (Lebanon) and UNMISS (South Sudan). Bangladesh Air Force helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are in use in MONUSCO (Democratic Republic of Congo). Several Bangladeshi defence force officers are also working in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
