Jordan, US join ranks to counter terrorists’ propaganda

AMMAN — Jordan on Tuesday signed an agreement with the US to expand the partnership between the two countries in online messaging and engagement against violent extremism.

The agreement was signed by Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel and Jordan’s Ambassador to the US Alia Hatoug Bouran, said a statement sent to The Jordan Times.

“Through the partnership, Jordan and the United States will expand media efforts to rapidly and effectively counter propaganda from Daesh and other violent extremist groups,” the statement said, adding that this includes efforts by these groups to recruit foreign fighters, fundraise for illicit activities and intimidate and terrorise people in Jordan and around the world. 

The US-Jordan partnership “will focus on presenting independent voices from Jordan and across the region that will amplify moderate and constructive narratives and a positive and peaceful vision of the future” the statement said.

Mohammad Momani, minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications, added this agreement is part of Jordan’s war against terrorism.

Fighting Daesh needs to be addressed militarily and ideologically, Momani told The Jordan Times, adding that Jordan has a long-term ideological approach that aims to counter terrorism and promote moderation.

“Few Jordanians have been radicalised and the country deals with them using different ideological tools”, the minister noted. 

Jordan and the US are also cooperating militarily in fighting Daesh, as the Kingdom is a member of an international coalition led by the US against the extremist group.

In a recent visit to Jordan, the US Vice President Joe Biden on told US troops who are training the Jordanian military that Daesh militants are “already on their heels” but defeating them will take a long time.

Washington has scaled up military aid to Jordan in recent months in support of the Kingdom’s central role in the fight against Daesh that controls large areas in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.

In February this year, the US finalised a law that allowed the administration to increase military support to Jordan to $450 million this year.

In 2015, the US provided Jordan with $385 million in foreign military financing support to Jordan, which entailed an $85 million increase over 2014, defence reports said. 

The law, according to a version available online on US government websites, stipulates that the US will help the Kingdom in its response to the Syrian refugee crisis, provide necessary assistance to alleviate the refugee burden to provide basic needs for the assimilated Syrian refugees, cooperate with Jordan in combatting the terrorist threat of Daesh or other terrorist organisations and help secure the border between Jordan and its neighbours.