Why Did Algeria Keep The U.S. In The Dark About It's Hostage Raid

When Algerian commandos initiated a raid Thursday to free hostages being held at a remote natural-gas complex, it was apparently a surprise to the top levels of the Obama administration as well as America’s key international allies. American workers were believed to be at the sprawling facility, and while details remain sketchy, U.S. officials said Friday that at least one American was killed. hat Algeria didn’t inform the U.S.—much less collaborate with it—before launching the raid should come as no surprise. Since 9/11, both the Bush and Obama administrations have tried to cultivate a relationship with Algeria’s military, intelligence, and security ministries. There have been occasional successes. Algerian officers have trained with the U.S. military; U.S. intelligence agencies shared overhead imagery of Algeria’s vast border; and the two sides at times cooperated against a common enemy, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the group’s North African affiliate.

But in general, distrust has been a hallmark of the strained relationship between the U.S. and Algeria. Under President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Algerian military has never agreed to the large kinds of defense aid packages other North African allies like Morocco and Egypt accepted. Known as foreign military financing, these kinds of grants can theoretically give the U.S. leverage over—and insight into—foreign militaries. (Algeria’s primary weapons supplier is Moscow, a relationship that goes back to the Cold War, when the Russians trained Algeria’s intelligence service and military.)

Algeria has also at times chafed at U.S. decisions. In January 2010, the Transportation Security Administration included Algeria on a watch list of national passports that would receive more scrutiny at airports following the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009.

A few weeks later, the Algerian government formally protested the TSA decision, according to a Jan. 6, 2010, State Department cable since disclosed by WikiLeaks. That cable also said that in a separate meeting the day before, the Algerian government approved the over flight of U.S. EP-3 spy planes in the Sahel region of the country to monitor AQIM strongholds.

“They want overhead imagery, access to intelligence to control that vast space. We did help them to an extent in this realm,” says Ian Lesser, a senior director for foreign and security policy for the U.S. German Marshall Fund, a U.S.-based think tank and an expert in Algeria. “But in terms of military to military cooperation, we do not have the decades and years of joint training and exchanges…we have with other countries in the region.”

Since 2008, the U.S. has spent about $1 million a year from the International Military Education and Training Program to bring Algerian military officers to the United States for advanced military education. These exchanges are meant to give U.S. military officers a personal relationship with the future leaders of foreign militaries. Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the chief of staff for Pakistan’s military, for example, studied at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. When he was there, he got to know a young officer named David Petraeus, who would go on to lead the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Algeria increasing military spending

The Algerian Defence Ministry has requested a larger $10.3 billion budget for next year, with which it hopes to buy a variety of new equipment as it modernises its military and engages in counterterrorism activities.

The new request is an increase of 14.2% over the previous year and reflects Algeria’s military modernisation and internal security challenges. Much of the budget request will go to the procurement of new equipment for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

“The increase is part of an expansion of the ministry into areas that had long been under the authority of the Interior Ministry,” an Algerian source was quoted by the World Tribune as saying. Indeed, the increased defence budget reflects the takeover of the Municipal Guard, containing around 100 00 personnel, by the Defence Ministry. This was previously administered by the Interior Ministry.

Algeria has North Africa’s second largest military, after Egypt. Around 1% of Algeria’s 35 million people are employed by the armed forces or paramilitary organisations (the latter being 185 000 strong), according to Jane’s information group. Jane’s said that Algeria most likely was the biggest military spender in Africa in 2009 and is the world’s ninth largest importer of weapons.

Algerian military plane crashes in France, four dead

An Algerian military transport plane flying home from Paris crashed in southeast France on Friday, killing four of the six people aboard, police and fire brigade sources said.
They said the other two people were missing after the plane crashed in a mountainous, uninhabited area near the city of Avignon.
About 70 firefighters put out a blaze at the scene of the crash and found the remains of the four dead.
France's civil aviation authority said no information was available yet on the reasons for the crash.
Algerian officials were not immediately available for comment.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus Military identified the plane as a Spanish-built C295 military transporter owned by the Algerian Air Force.

The arms race between Morocco and Algeria intensifies

The arms race between Algeria and Morocco does not seem to stop, the Algerian military junta is in power for many years to upset the balance of forces in North Africa in its favor, this drawing in its large financial resources generated by pumping and export of hydrocarbons. Successive orders Algerian weapons leave that choice to Morocco to follow the trend to preserve the balance of power and to keep some military deterrence vis-à-vis its rival Algeria. By increasing the scope and intensity of the arms race, the Algerian decision-makers aim to bleed economically Morocco, whose foreign exchange earnings come not easy pumping of subterranean resources but rather economic performance which is struggling to thrive in the context of global economic crisis. FAR military budget in the year 2012 around 5 billion acquisition budget and only around 1 billion dollars, against a budget of over $ 8 billion for Algeria.

Although the FAR budget is relatively small, however it is the ambitions of Morocco, however the budget in national currency FAR from the state budget or in the absence of a national military industry self-sufficient the FAR are forced to import all their needs in terms of weapons, ammunition and spare parts, which poses a problem whenever currency reserves given the limited national currencies which are intended in their majority most vital needs such as payment of energy bills and grain imports.

A 2nd wave of acquisitions Algerian seems to show on the horizon, in fact, the Algerian newspaper El-Khabar reported that AAF (Algerian Air Force) Algerian seems interested in the introduction and for the first time the story of a fighter Western rumored to be the release of the Swedish SAAB Gripen or the Rafale of French Dassault.

The timing and the reasons behind such a strategic decision are manifold. The acquisition of weapons is a matter of first policy insofar as a supplier of weapons, engages through the deed to confer a political and diplomatic support to client countries, it is a more implicit guarantee to provide ammunition and spare parts at all times. For a country that has already suffered a severe military embargo, a country whose officers are trained in Russian military academies and are imbued with socialist ideals and Marxist, Algeria has always had a natural inclination toward the Russian weapons, given the strong historical ties that bind the two countries. However, since the fall of

Algeria looking to procure two additional Improved Kilo Project 636M Diesel Submarines from Russia

Algeria may order two additional diesel electric submarines of project 636M considered one of the best selling products of the Russian defense industry from Russia. A source in the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Rosoboronexport received an application from Algeria for purchase of two diesel electric submarines of project 636M (Kilo according to NATO classification).

A source close to the special exporter of Russian armament confirmed this. According to one of the sources, in August the Ministry of Industry and Trade chose Admiralty Shipyards (a part of USC) as contractor for the order according to proposal of the Federal Service for Military Technological Cooperation. The source explained, "The decision of Algeria to buy additional submarines from Russia is evidently connected with growth of tension in the region with regard to events of the "Arab spring." The source explained that the contractor for the order was chosen "in accordance with wishes of the customer country." In 2020, Admiralty Shipyards supplied two submarines of project 636 to Algeria in the framework of fulfillment of the contract of 2006 (its value amounted to about $600 million). The sources did not disclose the value of the new contract. Kilo class submarine was designed by central maritime design bureau Rubin. It is considered one of the most silent diesel submarine in the world. Its length amounts to 73.8 meters, width amounts to 9.9 meters and displacement amounts to 2,350 cubic meters. Underwater speed amounts to 20 knots, the maximal submersion depth amounts to 300 meters. The crew consists of 52 people. The submarine is armed with four missiles (the quantity may be increased), 18 torpedoes and 24 mines.