Page 62 - Cormorant Issue 20 2017

PAGE 60
Jordan – A Regional Perspective
Lt Col Shaun Chandler
JORDAN IS A COUNTRY facing many challenges, yet one which remains an island of stability in an increasingly volatile Middle East.
Bordered by ongoing con icts in both Syria and Iraq it is equally in uenced by the bubbling insecurity in both Lebanon and Palestine
and the occupied territories. Famed for its hospitality, Jordan has long housed refugees driven across its borders generated by the con ict in the West Bank and the more recent troubles in Iraq and Syria. However, it is this latter con ict in Syria which is threatening to overwhelm Jordan’s capacity to absorb the in ux (estimated at over 1.4 million; a number comprising many who are unregistered). Understandably, Jordan looks to the international community for support as it attempts to cope with the overspill of con icts which are not of its own making.
If the challenge of regional insecurity and its resultant refugees was not great enough, Jordan’s resource scarcity further undermines its ability to stand-alone. Finding itself water-stressed and lacking in the hydrocarbons enjoyed by the wider Middle East,
it meets its needs through import. The situation
has only been made worse by the limiting of trade routes through con ict. Being a net importer, Jordan struggles to employ its young with unemployment running at around 13%. The country’s recent focus on the service-sector and science and engineering have shown nascent promise of growth and at the time of ACSC’s visit a World Bank sponsored technological innovation conference was highlighting Jordan’s
STEM-related innovation. A World Bank supported Israeli-Jordanian initiative to produce a desalinisation plant in the Gulf of Aqaba which will link the Red and Dead Seas through a pipeline is aimed at easing
the two countries’ water-stress. Similarly, Jordan, desiring to lessen its external energy dependence, is considering exploiting its signi cant Uranium deposits and turning to nuclear energy so as to offset its current 95% overseas energy dependence. A turn to nuclear energy will be in uenced by international acceptance, but the desire is for two 1000 MWe plants in operation by 2025. Tourism remains pro table and upheld by UNESCO world heritage sites such as Petra and
Wadi Rum, but cannot alone keep Jordan a oat when weighed down with challenges of the magnitude highlighted here. The result is huge foreign debt and a need for signi cant foreign aid.
Jordan is an important ally in the global war on terror. A member of the Global Coalition Against Daesh,
it supports allied operations and conducts its own discrete tasks. This, alongside its operations with
the GCC in Yemen, has driven a modernisation of its armed forces. In order to tailor its capability in the face of its current challenges, the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) have commenced an ambitious restructuring programme. This has included downsizing and the generation of a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) modelled on US Ranger / UK Air Assault capability. The British Loan Service team
is well resourced and has ably supported the QRF initiative. It is clear that the UK is delivering a great deal in Jordan within an ambitious operating budget. Equally, the relationship is mutually bene cial with Jordan being a regular training destination for the UK; signi cant UK exercises have taken place in both 2016 and 2017. Ex Olive Grove was just being
“
completed as the RSE visit took place and saw
3 Para help develop their and the Jordanian QRF’s capability. More widely, the increasingly expeditionary nature of Jordanian operations is driving increasing innovation at the operational level which includes the development of a Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) to coordinate, for example, their counter- Daesh and Yemen operations.
Jordan’s importance to the UK was underlined by the Prime Minister’s visit in April 2017. Her Middle East
The result is
huge foreign debt and a need
for signi cant foreign aid. ◆◆◆