Security

The region is receiving international attention right now, above all, for the planned withdrawal of ISAF operations from Afghanistan in 2014. But 2013 will be decisive for the region too. Pakistan is to see considerable leadership turnover; elections for parliament and the provincial assemblies will take place this May, with presidential elections set for the fall. And because of several changes to the constitution, the political situation in the country is more stable than it was in 2008.

Iran may now be ready to enter into bilateral negotiations with the US about its nuclear program, confirmed Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi at his speech before the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin, a declaration made just one day earlier at the Munich Security Conference.

Following a meeting with the German government in Berlin on Wednesday, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara spoke at the DGAP on his country’s role in the West African economic community and in resolving the conflict in neighboring Mali. The surprising advance of Islamist rebels over the past few weeks has torpedoed international plans to deal with the crisis. French intervention was the only way to stop the rebels. ECOWAS will now try to begin their planned operation this week.