UAE plays extraordinary role in fight against terror: Think tank president

Bratislava - The President of the Brookings Institution highlighted the UAE's "hugely outsized" role in the fight against Daesh.

Gen. (Ret.) John Allen, President of the Brookings Institution, has commended the role the UAE has played as a global ally in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
Allen's remarks came during a panel discussion during the GLOBSEC2018 Bratislava Forum, entitled 'The Middle East in Turmoil: Achieving Lasting Stability'. Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, also participated in the panel along with Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden, Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations; and Catherine Ashton, Chair of the Global Europe Programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Steve Clemons, Washington Editor-at-Large at The Atlantic, moderated the panel.
Commenting on the UAE's involvement in attaining stability in the Middle East region, he said, "The Emiratis did a magnificent job in Afghanistan," while praising the UAE service operators and pilots' "magnificent" abilities, and the "leadership that the Emirates brought to the coalition."
The President of the Brookings Institution went on to highlight the UAE's "hugely outsized" role in the fight against Daesh. "It's trite these days to say that any country punches above its weight, but in every possible way the Emirates did, both militarily, and very importantly, the UAE was extraordinarily helpful on getting to the issue of violent extremism," Gen. Allen affirmed.
He noted the impact the Hedayah Centre, among others in the UAE, has played in addressing violent extremism.
According to Allen, the UAE made a "huge dent", ultimately assisting the coalition in taking the lead "on the hardest part of this issue, which was the counter-messaging and defeating Daesh in the information sphere." He affirmed that the UAE's leadership in this realm was of vital importance.

• MENA