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By Trend

President Ilham Aliyev’s brilliant leadership and wisdom ensured Azerbaijan’s victory in the Second Karabakh War, US expert, CEO of Caspian Group Holdings Rob Sobhani told Trend.

Sobhani believes that Azerbaijan's victory is based on a number of mutually reinforcing factors.

“First, the brilliant leadership of President Aliyev and the timing of launching the Second Karabakh War. President Aliyev, it appears, sensed a vacuum in the global arena; I call it a vacuum of leadership by the Minsk Group members (Russia, U.S. and France). The second factor is the wisdom President Aliyev has shown when it comes to conducting Azerbaijan's foreign policy. Unlike the inexperience of Prime Minister Pashinyan, the experience of President Aliyev allowed Azerbaijan to maintain good and friendly relations with two regional powers, namely Russia and Turkey. By making a rational case for why this Second Karabakh War is a Just War President Aliyev was able to win the support of these two important countries. Third, I think that Azerbaijan's relations with Israel were also critical. The technological superiority of Israel's military-industrial complex was recognized early on by President Aliyev. A fourth important factor that lead to a victory for Azerbaijan was innovative and creative technologies used in modern day drones. This introduction of modern technology was a very important factor that tilted the balance of military power in favor of Azerbaijan. This is a very important lesson for the future of Azerbaijan; namely to invest in innovative and creative technologies such as bio-tech, artificial intelligence, electric vehicle batteries, graphene based solar panels and e-commerce. And last but critically important we must never forget that the Second Karabakh War was won due to the courage of Azerbaijan's brave soldiers. Their memory must always be kept alive,” the US expert explained.

He went on to add that the reconstruction and development of Karabakh will obviously be a top priority.

“Therefore, what is needed now a "Marshall Plan for Karabakh": inviting the U.S. European and Asian powers such as China, Japan and South Korea, to finance major infrastructure projects in Karabakh ranging from roads, bridges, power generation, water management to transportation links and tourism. Specifically, what Azerbaijan can do now is to identify specific projects to present to banks for financing based on public-private partnerships. For example, it can present feasibility studies on solar panel and battery production facilities in Shusha which would be of enormous interest to the European Investment Bank. The liberation of Karabakh and its surrounding areas creates a historic opportunity for small and medium size businesses in these areas to transport their products to warehouses in Baku for sale to the global marketplace via e-commerce portals. Transportation links via high speed rail using technologies from Japan, China or France can connect Baku to Karabakh,” Sobhani concluded.

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