Bangladesh never had an ally who could commit to a security guarantee for its land, air, and sea. Bangladesh’s military repeatedly proved that it is incapable of defending sovereign borders, including the recent incursion by the Myanmar navy into Bangladesh’s sovereign waters.
The territorial disputes involving Bangladesh, Myanmar, and India are not only lengthy but also involve a delicate fault line between the land and the Bay of Bengal.
Indian RAW dismantled Bangladesh’s military.
Bangladeshi media accused the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) of committing violence in Bangladesh.
On the afternoon of August 5, PM Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh in the face of growing violence in student-led protests. Hours later, around midnight, news poured in the media that RAW was involved in the last-ditch effort to save the Hasina regime by killing hundreds of people in Bangladesh.
When Hasina landed at an air force base near New Delhi, she was received by none other than Ajit Doval, the head of the Indian security establishment who oversees the external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), which has been accused of meddling in the internal affairs of Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries.
Bangladesh’s military is mainly underdeveloped because India never wanted a strong military in Bangladesh. India always intended to make Bangladesh like Belarus or planned to make it like Ukraine by annexing territory. On the contrary, India supplied arms and submarines to Myanmar’s despot.
Many strategic experts at Global Defense Corp on security issues, including those in the diplomatic community, were reluctant to say that much of the harm done to India’s interests was of its own doing.
That is, ever since India’s foreign policy was driven by the same forces that are trying to shift India from being a secular constitution-based democracy to one which is guided by the Hindu faith, New Delhi has been losing friends.
Philippines and Indonesian style security pact with the US, Germany, France, South Korea, Australia and the UK
The U.S. and other regional allies, including Australia, reiterated their obligation to defend the Philippines after a new clash with China at sea. U.S. officials said that a mutual defence treaty obligates Washington and Manila to help protect the other in major conflicts, including in the disputed South China Sea. The Philippines is one of America’s oldest Asian partners and a strategically major non-NATO ally.
On August 20, 2024, Australia and Indonesia finalised a significant defence cooperation agreement, marking a historic moment in their bilateral relations. This agreement allows mutual military operations within each other’s territories to enhance regional stability in the Asia-Pacific. The pact was announced during a visit by Indonesian Defense Minister and President-elect Prabowo Subianto to Canberra, where he met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other officials.
Concurrently, Australia also engaged in high-level discussions with Qatar, focusing on regional security, trade, and investment. This signalled Australia’s strategy to deepen ties with key regional players for international peace and security. These developments reflect a broader Australian foreign policy initiative to strengthen defence and economic partnerships in the region.
Similarly, Bangladesh needed a security guarantee from a friend and ally that its military could be strengthened, trained and receive Western equipment to deter Myanmar and Indian aggression.
Autocratic regimes have a habit of ending quickly. On Monday, after weeks of violent protests, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ushered into an army helicopter and flown out of the country after crowds reportedly stormed her residence in Dhaka. The Bangladesh Army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, announced the formation of an interim government, with promises to hold early elections and a return to civilian rule. However, the Army will have difficulty rebuilding a stable political system undermined by Hasina’s 16 years of autocratic rule. It will also need to navigate competing claims for influence by India and China and civil war in neighbouring Myanmar.
As a new government headed by the country’s only Nobel laureate takes charge, many wonder how it will undo years of ex-PM Sheikh Hasina’s ‘autocratic rule’.
While seeking full international support to rebuild Bangladesh, the country’s newly appointed Chief Adviser, Muhammad Yunus, slammed former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for destroying every institution.
Yunus conducted a brief meeting with diplomats in Dhaka where he pledged to conduct participatory polls after “reforms are implemented”, The Dhaka Tribune reported. He promised the following survey in Bangladesh would be “free and fair”. Yunus was appointed the country’s chief adviser after Hasina resigned from her post and fled amid nationwide anti-government protests.
What does the security pact mean for Bangladesh?
On May 3, 2023, the U.S. and the Philippines established the Bilateral Defense Guidelines to modernise the Philippine military and strengthen alliance cooperation in their shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
The guidelines reaffirm that building interoperability in conventional, hybrid, and non-conventional domains—including land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace—is the way forward.
The guidelines are informed by the following goals: strengthening the United States and the Philippines’ combined deterrence in an evolving security environment, including providing Bangladesh with modern military equipment, jets, warships, and training.
Deepening interoperability with the US, Australia, France, UK, South Korea, Japan and Germany will orient bilateral exercises and activities around improving Bangladesh’s combined ability to counter armed attacks on either country and threats in conventional war and hybrid warfare. This would allow Bangladesh to purchase high-tech military equipment from Western allies.
Deepen cooperation under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) to strengthen interoperability-supportive and like-minded democratic nations.
Conduct coordinated analysis, training and exercises to reinvigorate bilateral planning and coordination efforts; assess bilateral requirements; and advance common objectives and approaches to shared challenges.
Civil Nuclear Agreement
The United States, France, and Bangladesh can sign a treaty on the Cooperation in Peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The Agreement will enhance our cooperation on clean energy and energy security and strengthen our long-term bilateral diplomatic and economic relationships.
Energy security is an increasingly critical global challenge requiring deliberate, collaborative efforts, and our two countries can significantly contribute to our shared clean energy goals together. Nuclear energy can help achieve these vital global climate change and energy security targets, and we look forward to exploring new avenues of cooperation with Bangladesh in civil nuclear energy and other clean energy initiatives.
This Agreement is part of broader U.S. efforts to develop Bangladesh’s civil nuclear sector. Creating a safe, secure, modern industry requires a skilled workforce, robust regulations, and solid commercial partnerships. Bangladesh’s government can work with the USA and France to advance these areas, and we look forward to building our partnership further.
This Agreement could provide a comprehensive framework for peaceful nuclear cooperation with Bangladesh based on a mutual commitment to nuclear nonproliferation. It will permit the transfer of nuclear material, equipment (including reactors), components, and information for atomic research and civil nuclear energy production.
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