Security
Kyrgyzstan Nationalists Lay Minefield for International Investigation | EurasiaNet.org
21.04.2011. Category:Kyrgyzstan
What do you call suspiciously timed information that undercuts an anticipated event? Could it be propaganda?
In Kyrgyzstan's parliament, a deputy from the nationalist Ata-Jurt faction alleges that a new book – that only she has seen – claims Kyrgyz massacred Uzbeks in last summer’s ethnic violence. Her story, as these things generally are, is hard to follow. In widely reported comments from April 19,Jyldyz Joldosheva rants against the publication of The Hour of the Jackal, by “rich Uzbek nationalists.”More ...
In Kyrgyzstan's parliament, a deputy from the nationalist Ata-Jurt faction alleges that a new book – that only she has seen – claims Kyrgyz massacred Uzbeks in last summer’s ethnic violence. Her story, as these things generally are, is hard to follow. In widely reported comments from April 19,Jyldyz Joldosheva rants against the publication of The Hour of the Jackal, by “rich Uzbek nationalists.”More ...
Additional compensation fee paid by Germn Government to Uzbekistan
21.04.2011. Category:Uzbekistan
After some parliamentary pressure, the German Defense Ministry released an information this month, that the Government in Berlin payed between 2002 and 2010 €88 million to the Uzbek side for using Termez Air Base as a transport hub for its engagement in Northern Afghanistan.More ...
A U.S. Delegation in Turkmenistan
04.02.2011. Category:Turkmenistan
It's rare that Turkmenistan's heavily state-controlled media has any news not covered by any other outlets. Yet on January 24, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH) carried a brief notice of a "high-level delegation consisting of high-ranking officials of the U.S. Department of State and Ministry [sic] of Defense," published under the "Cooperation" rubric of the propagandistic government website called "Turkmenistan: The Golden Age".More ...
Uzbekistan needs action, not words on human rights
03.12.2010. Category:Uzbekistan
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AFP) – Uzbekistan should "translate words into practice" to improve its human rights situation, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday during a brief visit to Tashkent.
The US is ready to "support and assist in that effort", Clinton added while meeting President Islam Karimov on Thursday during a visit to the ex-Soviet state that lasted only a few hours.
"I urged him to demonstrate his commitment through a series of steps, to ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are truly protected in this country," Clinton told NGO leaders at a meeting, apress statement said.
"I am well aware of the hardship that many of you experience because of the work that you do," she said.
Uzbekistan has rejected the accusations of mass human rights violations, notably the regime's systematic stifling of all form of opposition, which are regularly voiced by NGOs.
Clinton said she touched on restrictions on religious freedom, torture, and child labour.
"We raise these issues in all our interactions with the government and will continue to make improvement of human rights in Uzbekistan an integral part of expanding our bilateral relationship."
In an annual report published in January, US-based Human Rights Watch said the Uzbek government's human rights record remained "atrocious."
Clinton during her visit also signed a broad bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement with Uzbekistan's First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov.
The US is ready to "support and assist in that effort", Clinton added while meeting President Islam Karimov on Thursday during a visit to the ex-Soviet state that lasted only a few hours.
"I urged him to demonstrate his commitment through a series of steps, to ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are truly protected in this country," Clinton told NGO leaders at a meeting, apress statement said.
"I am well aware of the hardship that many of you experience because of the work that you do," she said.
Uzbekistan has rejected the accusations of mass human rights violations, notably the regime's systematic stifling of all form of opposition, which are regularly voiced by NGOs.
Clinton said she touched on restrictions on religious freedom, torture, and child labour.
"We raise these issues in all our interactions with the government and will continue to make improvement of human rights in Uzbekistan an integral part of expanding our bilateral relationship."
In an annual report published in January, US-based Human Rights Watch said the Uzbek government's human rights record remained "atrocious."
Clinton during her visit also signed a broad bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement with Uzbekistan's First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov.
Cablegate: CENTCOM CDR PETRAEUS MEETS PRESIDENT NAZARVAYEV
03.12.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
1. (S) SUMMARY: President Nazarbayev told CENTCOM Commander General Petraeus:
-- the situation in Afghanistan greatly worries him; the Taliban should never be allowed to become a coalition partner in the Afghan government;
-- Iran cannot be allowed to become a nuclear state, but the United States needs to talk directly with Tehran, and he is willing to be helpful;
-- Kazakhstan will never again be “colonized,” but has excellent relations with Russia and China
-- the West has underestimated the depth of Russia’s wounded pride, but he is willing to be helpful if the Obama administration has “a wise response” to Russia. END SUMMARY.More ...
-- the situation in Afghanistan greatly worries him; the Taliban should never be allowed to become a coalition partner in the Afghan government;
-- Iran cannot be allowed to become a nuclear state, but the United States needs to talk directly with Tehran, and he is willing to be helpful;
-- Kazakhstan will never again be “colonized,” but has excellent relations with Russia and China
-- the West has underestimated the depth of Russia’s wounded pride, but he is willing to be helpful if the Obama administration has “a wise response” to Russia. END SUMMARY.More ...
Parallel Conference calls on OSCE Summit to make true comprehensive security commitment
02.12.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
Civil society organizations from Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus and North America call on the OSCE participating States to reinforce the mechanisms to promote and monitor compliance with the OSCE commitments in the human dimension, on conflict prevention and resolution, and on forging new partnerships with civil society. Over 200 civil society organizations from across the OSCE space met in a Parallel Conference on 28 and 29 November in Astana. “The core of the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security has always been the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law. We express our determination to contribute towards its full realization”, said Sonia Zilberman of CIVICUS, one of the conference organizers.More ...
OSCE summit looks to the fringes of Europe
30.11.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, is convening for its first summit for 11 years. It’s being held on the first two days in December in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
All 56 OSCE members, from across the northern hemispere are to discuss ways of mutually improving security through fighting terrorism and organised crime, preventing conflicts and promoting democracy and human rights.More ...
All 56 OSCE members, from across the northern hemispere are to discuss ways of mutually improving security through fighting terrorism and organised crime, preventing conflicts and promoting democracy and human rights.More ...
Kyrgyz Government Unhappy with DoD Decision
09.11.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan president Roza Otunbayeva has expressed her disappointment with the November 3 U.S. Defense Department (DoD) decision to renew its contract with Mina Corp Ltd., which has supplied jet fuel to the U.S. Transit Center Manas in Bishkek for the past six years. The one-year, $315 million contract will allow Mina to supply 96 million gallons of fuel to Manas. The contract can also be extended for another year.More ...
Deal with a Dictator
09.11.2010. Category:Uzbekistan
Getting supplies to Afghanistan may be worth cozying up to Uzbekistan—for now.More ...
Kyrgyzstan urges US to scrap fuel contract for crucial supply base
09.11.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan's government has demanded that the Pentagon cancel a $630 million (£390 million) contract to supply fuel to the US's Manas airbase because its chosen bidder, Mina Corp, is under investigation by Kyrgyz law enforcement agencies.More ...
US awards Kyrgyzstan contract to company probed by Congress
04.11.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
The U.S. Defense Department has awarded the Mina Corporation a $315 million jet fuel contract at a key U.S. air force base in Kyrgyzstan, after a congressional investigation stalled the deal.More ...
The White House, the Pentagon, and Central Asia
04.11.2010. Category:Central Asia
Following the April revolution in Kyrgyzstan, the nation’s new political leaders were virtually unanimous in one criticism of the United States: “All they care about is that air base.” The charge was validated by the personal testimony of President Akayev’s ambassador to Washington, who negotiated the terms of the air base deal. The Americans used to raise issues of human rights and democracy with us, he wrote. But once the base was in place, that was it. White House advisor Michael McFaul has pushed back, insisting that Washington has always cared about a variety of issues, and that military concerns are only a piece of the agenda.More ...
Gulnara Karimova, U.S. military subcontractor?
08.10.2010. Category:Uzbekistan
The problems with U.S. military supply lines in Pakistan have raised the possibility that the U.S. and NATO will be forced to increase their use of the Northern Distribution Network, as EurasiaNet's Deirdre Tynan reports today. A spokeswoman for U.S. Transportation Command says the problems in Pakistan won't force a significant increase in NDN traffic. But some disagree; one company put out a press release touting the new opportunities provided by the Pakistan closure:More ...
Attack in Tajikistan highlights fears of militancy
07.09.2010. Category:Tajikistan
A car rigged with explosives rammed into a police station in northern Tajikistan on Friday, wounding at least 25 people in an apparent suicide attack, Tajik police officials said.More ...
Моя миссия - вернуть в Киргизию капиталы, вывезенные Бакиевым
31.08.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
В Бишкеке с 25 по 29 августа побывала немногочисленная делегация из Европы. Ее основная цель - помочь вернуть в Киргизию капиталы, вывезенные из страны семьей Бакиева. В составе делегации - депутат бундестага от партии "зеленых" Виола фон Крамон (Viola von Cramon), которая в ходе визита пообщалась с действующим президентом Киргизии Розой Отунбаевой. Об итогах встречи и своих наблюдениях она рассказала в интервью Deutsche Welle. More ...
The void in Asia's heart
31.08.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
There is a hole in the map of Central Asia where Kyrgyzstan used to be. A country once considered an outpost of relative tolerance and democracy in a region of dysfunctional authoritarian regimes is today a deeply divided, practically failed, state. If the international response to its descent into political chaos is not swift and bold, the consequences will be disastrous.More ...
Russia’s Rwanda
18.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
As it contemplates the violence that has claimed the lives of well over a hundred people in its backyard nation of Kyrgyzstan, Russia should look to France's experience in Central Africa for lessons. There are distinct parallels. Just as Paris maintained strong links with its former colonies across Africa, Russia has maintained its with the governments of former Soviet Republics in Central Asia. But just as Paris lost so much traction when Rwanda ignited in 1994, wrong moves in Kyrgyzstan might alter those treasured links between Moscow and Central Asia for good. More ...
Joint Letter to the UN Security Council Regarding the Ongoing Crisis in Kyrgyzsta
18.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
To: Security Council Ambassadors
Your Excellency,
We urge the United Nations Security Council to take immediate steps to address the ongoing crisis in Kyrgyzstan. With a death toll likely to reach far higher than the official count of 200 and an estimated 400,000 displaced in Kyrgyzstan and across the border in Uzbekistan, the situation poses a significant threat to international peace and security. The Kyrgyz authorities have primary responsibility for halting the violence and resolving this crisis, but reports from the ground provide ample evidence that the government is unable to protect those in need, and Kyrgyz authorities have already acknowledged that they need substantial assistance. More ...
Your Excellency,
We urge the United Nations Security Council to take immediate steps to address the ongoing crisis in Kyrgyzstan. With a death toll likely to reach far higher than the official count of 200 and an estimated 400,000 displaced in Kyrgyzstan and across the border in Uzbekistan, the situation poses a significant threat to international peace and security. The Kyrgyz authorities have primary responsibility for halting the violence and resolving this crisis, but reports from the ground provide ample evidence that the government is unable to protect those in need, and Kyrgyz authorities have already acknowledged that they need substantial assistance. More ...
Death, dictators and the Soviet legacy
18.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
It is arguable that the wave of ethnic killings in southern Kyrgyzstan that started last Saturday – which has left hundreds of Uzbeks dead and tens of thousands homeless – is, at root, the fault of Joseph Stalin. The Soviet Union was in theory just that – a union of Soviet socialist republics. Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were three of them. But whatever the theory, Stalin had no intention of allowing the republics to become viable entities or potential power bases for rivals. So he intervened personally and the republics were deliberately messed up with boundaries that cut across natural economic units and severed cultural and ethnic links.More ...
U.S. ties to ex-Kyrgyz regime are questioned
17.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Weeks before ethnic clashes killed hundreds of people in this Central Asian republic, an audio recording was posted on YouTube that presaged the mayhem.
"We need to find 500 b—ds…and keep [the country] in a constant mess," said a voice that government officials here say was that of Maksim Bakiyev, the 32-year-old son of the ousted president. "Somebody needs to kick up a fuss."More ...
"We need to find 500 b—ds…and keep [the country] in a constant mess," said a voice that government officials here say was that of Maksim Bakiyev, the 32-year-old son of the ousted president. "Somebody needs to kick up a fuss."More ...
Russia and the crisis in Osh
17.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
As Moscow grapples with the question of whether to intervene to stop the violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, it is forced to confront a vexing issue: can Russia utilize its political and military potential to help resolve local and regional conflicts in Central Asia?More ...
A test for mutual security
17.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Politically driven ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan has already claimed more than 100 lives and threatens to erase the country’s progress toward self-government following the April ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
It is an ominous sign that a society which had undertaken impressive reforms aimed at creating the region's first parliamentary democracy is now teetering on the brink of outright civil war and state failure.More ...
It is an ominous sign that a society which had undertaken impressive reforms aimed at creating the region's first parliamentary democracy is now teetering on the brink of outright civil war and state failure.More ...
Kyrgyz violence began with coordinated attacks -UN says
15.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Violence in Kyrgyzstan appears to have begun with five coordinated attacks and has taken on an inter-ethnic character that could spiral out of control, the U.N. human rights office warned on Tuesday.More ...
Kyrgyzstan presses Russia to quell unrest
15.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday held out the possibility of reviewing an airbase agreement with the US in an apparent effort to convince Russia to provide peacekeeping forces to quell unrest in the south of the country.More ...
Aid starts to arrive in Kyrgyzstan as violence abates
15.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
OSH, Kyrgyzstan — A plane carrying 40 tons of flour, pasta, cooking oil and other food landed at the airport in this traumatized city on Tuesday, and citizens tentatively ventured out onto the street for the first time since spasms of ethnic violence seized the city last Thursday.More ...
Kyrgyzstan requested U.S. military aid and rubber bullets but was turned down
15.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Before Kyrgyzstan turned to Russia, it informally asked Washington for military assistance including a supply of rubber bullets to quell ethnic bloodletting in the south of the country, but was turned down, I am told by people privy to the situation. Russia says it may deploy troops if it's a collective regional decision.More ...
Kyrgyzstan unrest gives big powers cause for concern
15.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
If recent history is any guide, the ethnic violence roiling southern Kyrgyzstan is unlikely to be prolonged or to spark a wider conflagration in neighbouring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Similar outbreaks ignited by disputes over land, food prices and poll results across the divided Fergana valley in 1990 and 2005 eventually subsided, with or without the type of foreign intervention sought at the weekend by the interim government in Bishkek.More ...
Provocateurs seen behind ethnic clash
15.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
As reported, on June 10, clashes between the ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek population in the southern Kyrgyzstan have developed into a large-scale violence and further exodus of the Uzbeks residing in Kyrgyzstan.
Three days of pogroms have led to serious humanitarian disaster in the isolated conflict zone - the population still has limited access to telephony, electricity and food products after several nights of shooting and looting. There was a threat that the conflict could involve other regions of the Southern Kyrgyzstan, including Jalal-Abad (the former president Bakiyev's homeland), which is close to Osh, the place of initial unrest.More ...
Three days of pogroms have led to serious humanitarian disaster in the isolated conflict zone - the population still has limited access to telephony, electricity and food products after several nights of shooting and looting. There was a threat that the conflict could involve other regions of the Southern Kyrgyzstan, including Jalal-Abad (the former president Bakiyev's homeland), which is close to Osh, the place of initial unrest.More ...
Danish journalist Michael Andersen: I am ashamed that European media and politicians do not understand the tragedy in Kyrgyzstan
15.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
European media pay little attention to the tragedy in South Kyrgyzstan. They view it as an interethnic clash between nations which they know very little about. Current media interest is motivated by either national interests – European interests do not include small and poor Kyrgyzstan – or having by vivid pictures which are not widely available since Southern Kyrgyzstan cannot be easily reached by foreign correspondents. This means that in Western media, the pain and blood of Osh cannot compete with this week’s main story – the football World Cup. Danish journalist Michael Andersen informed Ferghana.Ru about the reaction of European media and politicians.More ...
Uzbeks itching to join the fight in Osh
14.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Not everyone in Uzbekistan is happy with the fairly moderate statement on the violence in Osh that Tashkent made on Saturday, saying that the violence was provoked by "forces, whose interests are totally remote from the interests of the Kyrgyz people." I talked today with Sukhrobjon Ismailov, the ace Tashkent-based analyst who told me that many people in the Uzbekistan military and security services want to intervene in Osh on the side of the Uzbeks. Ordinary Uzbeks in the Ferghana Valley are also itching to get into the fight, and many in Uzbekistan are calling what is happening in Osh a "genocide" against Uzbeks. It is Islam Karimov, Ismoilov said, who is trying to keep Uzbek emotions in check.More ...
War in Kyrgyzstan: what is causing the violence?
14.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
When the five former Soviet republics of central Asia gained their independence with the breakup of the USSR there were hopes that Kyrgyzstan might achieve a semblance of responsible rule.
This small country of 5.5 million people had a relatively developed civil society and free press. But hopes were dashed under Askar Akayev, a president accused by the opposition of nepotism, corruption and growing authoritarianism.More ...
This small country of 5.5 million people had a relatively developed civil society and free press. But hopes were dashed under Askar Akayev, a president accused by the opposition of nepotism, corruption and growing authoritarianism.More ...
Kyrgyzstan Violence: Conspiracies Abound
14.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Some random, hastily collected thoughts as a study break: Who is to blame? Who is doing the killing? Why?
These questions have been asked over and over again in regards to short episodes of violence in Central Asia since 1986, starting with the Almaty “Kunaev” riots. Other examples of violent riots/pogroms include the May 1989 attacks on Armenians in Turkmenistan, the 1989 Uzbek pogroms against Meskhets in the Ferghana valley, summer 1989 fighting between Tajiks and Kyrgyz in Isfara, the February 1990 riots in Dushanbe that left 50 dead (half of them non-Tajiks – including Slavs), summer 1990 in Osh as Uzbeks and Kyrgyz killed each other, May-September 1992 in the collective farms of the Vakhsh valley, etc….More ...
These questions have been asked over and over again in regards to short episodes of violence in Central Asia since 1986, starting with the Almaty “Kunaev” riots. Other examples of violent riots/pogroms include the May 1989 attacks on Armenians in Turkmenistan, the 1989 Uzbek pogroms against Meskhets in the Ferghana valley, summer 1989 fighting between Tajiks and Kyrgyz in Isfara, the February 1990 riots in Dushanbe that left 50 dead (half of them non-Tajiks – including Slavs), summer 1990 in Osh as Uzbeks and Kyrgyz killed each other, May-September 1992 in the collective farms of the Vakhsh valley, etc….More ...
Kyrgyzstan death toll rises as ethnic slaughter continues
14.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Sporadic gunfire continued through the night and fresh fires raged in southern Kyrgyzstan today, as the country's worst ethnic violence in decades showed no signs of abating.
The official death toll reached 117, with 1,500 hurt, the health ministry announced this morning. Thousands have already fled the country.
Accounts from international aid agencies and other witnesses suggest the real toll could be much higher: the Red Cross has said its delegates witnessed about 100 bodies being buried in one cemetery.
An ethnic Uzbek woman at the border of Uzbekistan after fleeing the riots in southern Kyrgyzstan. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesMore ...
The official death toll reached 117, with 1,500 hurt, the health ministry announced this morning. Thousands have already fled the country.
Accounts from international aid agencies and other witnesses suggest the real toll could be much higher: the Red Cross has said its delegates witnessed about 100 bodies being buried in one cemetery.
An ethnic Uzbek woman at the border of Uzbekistan after fleeing the riots in southern Kyrgyzstan. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesMore ...
Osh burning again
14.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Registan is naturally from the top of the information food chain when it comes to the situation in Kyrgyzstan. Reading these stories, along with our own attempts to parse meaning and motive from ethnicity and criminality, I’m struck by the lack of information available to anyone at all. Whatever the cause, the violence is approaching a state of chaos.
New fires raged Monday across Osh — the second-largest city that’s on the border with Uzbekistan, and where food and water were becoming scarce. Armed looters smashed stores, stealing anything from televisions to food.
No police could be seen on the streets, though authorities insisted some of the improvised checkpoints dotted around the city of 250,000 were theirs.
Cars stolen from ethnic Uzbeks raced around the city, most crowded with young Kyrgyz wielding sharpened sticks, axes and metal rods.
In some parts of Osh, Kyrgyz residents protected homes housing both Kyrgyz and Uzbek.
In another city beset by violence, Jalal-Abad, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, armed Kyrgyz amassed at the central square. Their stated goal was to travel to the nearby Uzbek settlement of Suzak in search of an Uzbek community leader they blame for starting the trouble.
The Uzbek border is just 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Osh. Uzbek refugees were mostly elderly people, women and children, with younger men staying behind to defend their property. Some were fired on as they fled.
Internet news stories seem to have the news only as it gets edited and regurgitated from the forum and twitter feeds, and who knows how reliable any of those is? Without people on the ground or a government in power, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to describe the situation, let alone hope for a quick and merciful end to the violence.
The military presence is clearly not enough, as a military patrol in Jalalabad was almost hi-jacked by gangs of Kyrgyz men. Even though the military has been given permission (or shall I say ordered?) to fire on sight any and all violent looters, there are allegations that the military refuses to fire on fellow Kyrgyz men. It doesn’t take much more than this to make people start using the G-word.
But there may yet be a reckoning for some of those responsible, as “The commandant of Jalalabad Kubatbek Baibolov said that the authorities managed to apprehend one of the suspects alleged to have organized and carried out the mass ethnic riots in Osh.” (another link to that story, also Russian and one more from the BBC in Russian) The suspect will be charged also with attempting to overthrow the government, suggesting some connection with the government’s accusations that Bakiev & Co. are behind the riots. Perhaps even a Bakiev brother?
“You could say that it is well-known political figure.”
Registan
New fires raged Monday across Osh — the second-largest city that’s on the border with Uzbekistan, and where food and water were becoming scarce. Armed looters smashed stores, stealing anything from televisions to food.
No police could be seen on the streets, though authorities insisted some of the improvised checkpoints dotted around the city of 250,000 were theirs.
Cars stolen from ethnic Uzbeks raced around the city, most crowded with young Kyrgyz wielding sharpened sticks, axes and metal rods.
In some parts of Osh, Kyrgyz residents protected homes housing both Kyrgyz and Uzbek.
In another city beset by violence, Jalal-Abad, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, armed Kyrgyz amassed at the central square. Their stated goal was to travel to the nearby Uzbek settlement of Suzak in search of an Uzbek community leader they blame for starting the trouble.
The Uzbek border is just 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Osh. Uzbek refugees were mostly elderly people, women and children, with younger men staying behind to defend their property. Some were fired on as they fled.
Internet news stories seem to have the news only as it gets edited and regurgitated from the forum and twitter feeds, and who knows how reliable any of those is? Without people on the ground or a government in power, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to describe the situation, let alone hope for a quick and merciful end to the violence.
The military presence is clearly not enough, as a military patrol in Jalalabad was almost hi-jacked by gangs of Kyrgyz men. Even though the military has been given permission (or shall I say ordered?) to fire on sight any and all violent looters, there are allegations that the military refuses to fire on fellow Kyrgyz men. It doesn’t take much more than this to make people start using the G-word.
But there may yet be a reckoning for some of those responsible, as “The commandant of Jalalabad Kubatbek Baibolov said that the authorities managed to apprehend one of the suspects alleged to have organized and carried out the mass ethnic riots in Osh.” (another link to that story, also Russian and one more from the BBC in Russian) The suspect will be charged also with attempting to overthrow the government, suggesting some connection with the government’s accusations that Bakiev & Co. are behind the riots. Perhaps even a Bakiev brother?
“You could say that it is well-known political figure.”
Registan
Kyrgyzstan erupts into ethnic war
14.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan was tonight in the grip of a bloody ethnic war after rioting that erupted four days ago in the southern city of Osh spread rapidly to other areas, with gun battles raging between Kyrgyz and Uzbek youths.More ...
Ethnic Uzbeks tell of slaughter in Kyrgyz city
14.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Ethnic Uzbeks said Kyrgyz gangs were carrying out genocide on Sunday in besieged neighbourhoods of Kyrgyzstan's second city Osh, burning residents out of their homes and shooting them as they fled.More ...
Partial military mobilization raises risks in Kyrgyzstan
14.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan's provisional government is partially mobilizing its armed forces, raising the possibility of the military's attempted intervention in civil violence that has devastated southern regions of the Central Asian nation. Some experts are interpreting the move as a sign of desperation.More ...
I call it a massacre!
13.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Call it whatever you want, but I name it a massacre of Uzbeks in Osh and Jalalabad (Kyrgyzstan), which is, at the moment, still going on and the Interim government headed by Rosa Otunbaeva cannot do anything to prevent it. I knew of disaffection, I knew of tension, but I never knew there was so much hatred against Uzbeks in the South of Kyrgyzstan. I am not blaming all Kyrgyz for this. I am blaming the incapable Interim government, and those people, who provoked masses, and especially those stupid Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, who are buying it.
More ...
More ...Kyrgyzstan gives police shoot-to-kill powers amid ethnic violence
13.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan's interim government has granted its security forces shoot-to-kill powers after a third night of violence left at least 83 people dead and more than 1,100 wounded in the country's worst ethnic violence in 20 years.
Ethnic Uzbeks gather near the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border in southern Kyrgyzstan, trying to seek refuge from mobs of Kyrgyz men. Photograph: D Dalton Bennett/APMore ...
Ethnic Uzbeks gather near the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border in southern Kyrgyzstan, trying to seek refuge from mobs of Kyrgyz men. Photograph: D Dalton Bennett/APMore ...
Uzbek foreign ministry confident Bishkek can cope
13.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan's struggling interrim government is trying to handle the growing humanitarian crisis ensuing from Kyrgyz-Uzbek clashes in the southern Kyrgyz towns of Osh and Jalal-Abad. The death toll in clashes from the last 3 days is now at 84 with 1,117 wounded, AKIpress.orgreports. While Uzbekistan has issued a statement condemning the violence and expressing confidence that Kyrgyzstan will cope on its own, Tashkent has sent troops to the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border to help strengthen security, 24.kg has reported.More ...
Kyrgyzstan closes borders as death toll mounts
13.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan has closed its borders with China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as the death toll inarmed clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the Kyrgyz city of Osh reached 50, with 650 more wounded, regnum.ru reported June 12. The border with Kazakhstan remains open. A state of emergency has been declared in the cities of Osh and Uzgen and also Aravan and Karassu districts of Osh region.
A key factor in the clashes between "the political elite of Kyrgyzstan" and leaders of the ethnic Uzbek population in the south is the status of the Uzbek language, the independent online Uzbek news service ferghana.ru reported. On June 1, two weeks after clashes broke out in Jalalal-Abad, members of the Uzbek national center in Osh distributed an appeal protesting what they termed "the violation of the rights of Uzbeks on the use of their native language."
The authors of the appeal say there are about one million ethnic Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan, which they consider their "historic homeland." The Uzbeks complained that there was a lack of television broadcasting on the state channels KTR and ElTR in their native language. The draft constitution, the subject of a referendum to be held June 27, does not mention that Uzbek language, says ferghana.ru.
Efforts have been made to poll citizens on their attitude toward multilingualism in Kyrgyzstan but observers say that various media in different languages will tend to skew the results of such polls, making them untrustworthy. Uzbeks have also complained of a lack of representation in local governing bodies. Local politicians don't believe lack of minority representation is a problem, but they may not be acknowleding the growth of the Uzbek population, say observers.
Vakhidjan Ergashev, a businessman and public figure in Jalal-Abad, says:
The authorities simply try not to publicize the real figures of the growth of the Uzbek language. Why, for example, are figures missing on the ethnic breakdown of the population by region? In fact, such an analysis would immediately highlight places densely populated with Uzbeks, whose numbers in reality are growing faster than they officially appear on paper.
Asylbek Keshikbayev, an expert on state and regional development says as the native Kyrgyz-language population migrates from the region, ethnic Uzbeks or refugees have moved in. Independent journalist Aleksandr Kulinsky says Kyrgyzstan has not done anything since the 1990s to integrate the Uzbeks into the ruling structures of the country, and now faces the reality that the Uzbek population is significantly larger than the Kyrgyz in the south, ferghana.ru reported. Some observers have called the situation in the south of Kyrgyzstan "a second Kosovo," as the minority population grows, and feels its language issues are unresolved.
Human rights activists from the Foundation for International Tolerance have conducted meetings recently in the region and called for removing the line indicating "nationality," or ethnicity from the Kyrgyz passport in order to reduce discrimination.
In a separate development, Uzbek border guards have cut off Arnasai, a village near Kazakhstan's southern border with Uzbekistan which became an exclave surrounded by Uzbek territory after delimitation of the Kazakh-Uzbek border some years ago, Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe reported. Some families are reportedly running out of drinking water due to the blockade, imposed June 7, Arnasai village governor Basymbek Kalzhigitov told journalists. Kazakh officials are currently in talks on the situation with Uzbek counterparts, who have not explained their actions.
Eurasianet
A key factor in the clashes between "the political elite of Kyrgyzstan" and leaders of the ethnic Uzbek population in the south is the status of the Uzbek language, the independent online Uzbek news service ferghana.ru reported. On June 1, two weeks after clashes broke out in Jalalal-Abad, members of the Uzbek national center in Osh distributed an appeal protesting what they termed "the violation of the rights of Uzbeks on the use of their native language."
The authors of the appeal say there are about one million ethnic Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan, which they consider their "historic homeland." The Uzbeks complained that there was a lack of television broadcasting on the state channels KTR and ElTR in their native language. The draft constitution, the subject of a referendum to be held June 27, does not mention that Uzbek language, says ferghana.ru.
Efforts have been made to poll citizens on their attitude toward multilingualism in Kyrgyzstan but observers say that various media in different languages will tend to skew the results of such polls, making them untrustworthy. Uzbeks have also complained of a lack of representation in local governing bodies. Local politicians don't believe lack of minority representation is a problem, but they may not be acknowleding the growth of the Uzbek population, say observers.
Vakhidjan Ergashev, a businessman and public figure in Jalal-Abad, says:
The authorities simply try not to publicize the real figures of the growth of the Uzbek language. Why, for example, are figures missing on the ethnic breakdown of the population by region? In fact, such an analysis would immediately highlight places densely populated with Uzbeks, whose numbers in reality are growing faster than they officially appear on paper.
Asylbek Keshikbayev, an expert on state and regional development says as the native Kyrgyz-language population migrates from the region, ethnic Uzbeks or refugees have moved in. Independent journalist Aleksandr Kulinsky says Kyrgyzstan has not done anything since the 1990s to integrate the Uzbeks into the ruling structures of the country, and now faces the reality that the Uzbek population is significantly larger than the Kyrgyz in the south, ferghana.ru reported. Some observers have called the situation in the south of Kyrgyzstan "a second Kosovo," as the minority population grows, and feels its language issues are unresolved.
Human rights activists from the Foundation for International Tolerance have conducted meetings recently in the region and called for removing the line indicating "nationality," or ethnicity from the Kyrgyz passport in order to reduce discrimination.
In a separate development, Uzbek border guards have cut off Arnasai, a village near Kazakhstan's southern border with Uzbekistan which became an exclave surrounded by Uzbek territory after delimitation of the Kazakh-Uzbek border some years ago, Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe reported. Some families are reportedly running out of drinking water due to the blockade, imposed June 7, Arnasai village governor Basymbek Kalzhigitov told journalists. Kazakh officials are currently in talks on the situation with Uzbek counterparts, who have not explained their actions.
Eurasianet
Bishkek asks for Russian troops to contain Osh violence
13.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
In a move that may have lasting political implications for Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan's provisional government has appealed to Russia to deploy troops to help restore order in the southern city of Osh.More ...
Violence may spread beyond Osh
12.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
The flaring of ethnic conflict in Kyrgyzstan, the worst violence since the April revolution, is currently confined to the southern city of Osh but ACT Alliance members fear it may spread to other parts of the country and beyond, in a region ACT describes as an often forgotten corner of the world.
Tatiana Kotova, of the ACT Central Asia Forum, speaking from the capital Bishkek, said that fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks could easily escalate.More ...
Tatiana Kotova, of the ACT Central Asia Forum, speaking from the capital Bishkek, said that fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks could easily escalate.More ...
Kyrgyzstan appeals for outside help as death toll rises
12.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan has appealed for outside help to quell rioting and interethnic violence that has claimed at least 51 lives in the south of the country.
Interim leader Roza Otunbaeva told reporters today she has sent a letter to the Russian government asking Moscow to help resolve the ongoing conflict in Osh, and that she welcomed help from other countries. More ...
Interim leader Roza Otunbaeva told reporters today she has sent a letter to the Russian government asking Moscow to help resolve the ongoing conflict in Osh, and that she welcomed help from other countries. More ...
Pentagon looks to plant new facilities in Central Asia
11.06.2010. Category:Central Asia
The Pentagon is preparing to embark on a mini-building boom in Central Asia. A recently posted sources-sought survey indicates the US military wants to be involved in strategic construction projects in all five Central Asian states, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.More ...
US stops refueling tanker planes at key base
01.06.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says the military has stopped refueling tanker planes at the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan as the U.S. renegotiates with the local government on how much it will pay for fuel.
The base is considered a crucial transit center for sending troops and supplies in and out of Afghanistan. U.S. access was threatened this spring when street protests brought down the government and forced the president to flee.
Whitman and other U.S. military officials said Tuesday that transit flights continue at the base. But the spokesman also said that in an effort to conserve fuel, tanker planes are no longer stopping at Manas and are going elsewhere to refuel.
Washington Post
The base is considered a crucial transit center for sending troops and supplies in and out of Afghanistan. U.S. access was threatened this spring when street protests brought down the government and forced the president to flee.
Whitman and other U.S. military officials said Tuesday that transit flights continue at the base. But the spokesman also said that in an effort to conserve fuel, tanker planes are no longer stopping at Manas and are going elsewhere to refuel.
Washington Post
US Congress Hearing on Kyrgyzstan
23.04.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
After the Subcommttee Hearing at the US Congress, the journalist Steve LeVine interviewed some of the experts who gave a testimony.
New York-based lawyer Scott Horton, asserts that, if the precise same fuels contract had involved a U.S. commercial entity, it would be subject to investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
Alexander Cooley, a Columbia University professor who has studied the Manas base as part of a look at numerous U.S. bases around the world, called the fuel scandal a problem both of local Kyrgyz politics and U.S. national security. He said that Kyrgyz politicians are certain to seize on the military base as an issue in October presidential elections. If the fuel scandal isn't resolved by then -- meaning if the U.S. hasn't fessed up -- Cooley suggested that the base could be in trouble.
Sam Patten, who watches Eurasia for Freedom House, a New York-based NGO, also raised the issue of the Embassy failing to engage with the opposition, but went further and argued that the State Department had ultimately failed to observe U.S. law obligating it to encourage democracy. Patten asserted that the State Department needs to watch more closely, because uprisings are bound to spread regionally. "The question in Uzbekistan isn't if revolution will happen, but when it will happen," Patten told the committee.
Oil and Glory
New York-based lawyer Scott Horton, asserts that, if the precise same fuels contract had involved a U.S. commercial entity, it would be subject to investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
Alexander Cooley, a Columbia University professor who has studied the Manas base as part of a look at numerous U.S. bases around the world, called the fuel scandal a problem both of local Kyrgyz politics and U.S. national security. He said that Kyrgyz politicians are certain to seize on the military base as an issue in October presidential elections. If the fuel scandal isn't resolved by then -- meaning if the U.S. hasn't fessed up -- Cooley suggested that the base could be in trouble.
Sam Patten, who watches Eurasia for Freedom House, a New York-based NGO, also raised the issue of the Embassy failing to engage with the opposition, but went further and argued that the State Department had ultimately failed to observe U.S. law obligating it to encourage democracy. Patten asserted that the State Department needs to watch more closely, because uprisings are bound to spread regionally. "The question in Uzbekistan isn't if revolution will happen, but when it will happen," Patten told the committee.
Oil and Glory
Kyrgyztan's ousted leader Bakiyev 'must stand trial'
14.04.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
The interim leader of Kyrgyzstan has said ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev should stand trial over the recent deadly political unrest.
Roza Otunbayeva said Mr Bakiyev had "blood on his hands" and had missed his chance to leave the country.
Mr Bakiyev, currently in the south of the country, had said he was willing to resign if his safety was guaranteed.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned Kyrgyzstan is "on the brink of civil war".
More ...
Roza Otunbayeva said Mr Bakiyev had "blood on his hands" and had missed his chance to leave the country.
Mr Bakiyev, currently in the south of the country, had said he was willing to resign if his safety was guaranteed.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned Kyrgyzstan is "on the brink of civil war".
More ...
Top US envoy in Kyrgyzstan for talks after revolt
14.04.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
A top U.S diplomat arrived for talks with Kyrgyzstan's interim leaders on Wednesday about defusing a crisis in the Central Asian country, where Washington rents an air base to back its war effort in Afghanistan.More ...
US Air Base contracts face scrutiny
14.04.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
The upheaval gripping Kyrgyzstan is disrupting the flow of troops and materials bound for Afghanistan. A Defense Department announcement stated that the American-operated Manas Transit Center, located outside the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, will remain closed to US military and contractor air traffic from April 8-12.More ...
U.S. voices concern as protests plunge Kyrgyzstan into chaos
08.04.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Opposition demonstrators appeared Wednesday to have seized power in Kyrgyzstan, which is host to an important U.S. military base, after a day of bloody clashes that left dozens dead and forced the Central Asian country's president to flee the capital.
Leaders of the opposition said they had taken over key installations in Bishkek and were forming a new government. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flew to Osh, a regional city where he enjoys support, according to news reports. His plans were uncertain, as was his ability to command the country's security forces and reassert his authority.
The death toll of about 40 was likely to rise, health officials in Bishkek said, noting that hundreds of protesters were injured in the violence.More ...
Leaders of the opposition said they had taken over key installations in Bishkek and were forming a new government. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flew to Osh, a regional city where he enjoys support, according to news reports. His plans were uncertain, as was his ability to command the country's security forces and reassert his authority.
The death toll of about 40 was likely to rise, health officials in Bishkek said, noting that hundreds of protesters were injured in the violence.More ...
Kazakhstan's foreign minister on his country's unlikely new role as Europe's democracy watchdog.
17.03.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
In a landmark for Central Asia, Kazakhstan this year has taken over the rotating chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) -- a key intergovernmental organization that monitors everything from security cooperation to political and human rights in 56 member states across Europe. It is the first former Soviet state, the first Muslim country, and the first country east of Austria to assume the chairmanship. But Kazakhstan is hardly a paragon of European democracy. Its authoritarian government, headed by longtime President Nursultan Nazarbayev, doesn't allow political parties to compete freely, is routinely accused of violating human rights, and is officially classified as "Not Free" by the U.S. NGO Freedom House. So how, ask critics, can Kazakhstan possibly be charged with upholding democratic standards in other countries?
JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty ImagesMore ...
JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty ImagesMore ...
ETG Turkmenistan/Nabucco Roundtable
10.03.2010. Category:Turkmenistan
On March 5, 2010, Eurasian Transition Group hosted a roundtable discussion on the political and economical situation in Turkmenistan, its geopolitical implications and the prospects of the Nabucco project.
Please find some relevant documents and audio files below:
More ...
Please find some relevant documents and audio files below:
More ...
Richard Holbrooke: US has no plans to deploy military base in Uzbekistan
24.02.2010. Category:Uzbekistan
The government of the United States has no plans to open a military base in Uzbekistan, Richard Holbrooke, a U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Sunday in Astana. Mr. Holbrooke is taking a tour around Central Asian republics. Before coming to Kazakhstan he already visited Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan while after meetings in Astana he will give a visit to Caucasus and, specifically, Georgia.
© Carson.Wiens
More ...Moscow withholding promised aid to Bishkek
17.02.2010. Category:Kyrgyzstan
In February of 2009, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev traveled to Moscow and secured roughly $2.15 billion in economic assistance, apparently in a quid-pro-quo deal in which Kyrgyzstan took action to evict US and NATO forces from an air base outside Bishkek. Twelve months later, American troops are still in Kyrgyzstan, and Moscow is balking at disbursing the bulk of its pledged aid.More ...
Sucking up to Dictators Is Harder Than It Looks
16.02.2010. Category:Turkmenistan
September 21, 2009, was a day of blitz diplomacy for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: She had more than eight and a half hours of bilateral meetings to juggle, along with a marathon of press briefings and camera sprays at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York. But one of her sit-downs that day required particular finesse. It was with an obscure dictator whose name alone presented a challenge -- Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan. He came into the room with an immediate advantage: The United States needed his help. Clinton needed to convince him to let NATO transports through his country, a move that would ease pressure on U.S. supply lines into Afghanistan and probably save some U.S. troops. The usual approach -- money -- would not work with energy-rich Turkmenistan. It was a test of her skill as a diplomat.
More ...
More ...Kazakhstan's role to be positive, but not decisive in talks over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
16.02.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
The role of Kazakhstan as the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in 2010 will be positive, but not decisive in talks over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, experts say.More ...
Interview with CSCE Co-Chair A. Hastings on Kazakhstan
05.02.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
Co-Chairman Hastings Interview with Erica Marat of Voice of America
Question:Good morning, Congressman Hastings. It is our pleasure to have you here at VOA. My question is: you supported Kazakhstan’s bid to chair the OSCE back in 2007. Please tell us the main reason for your support.
Co-Chairman Hastings:That’s a very good question and, I had been involved at that time in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for almost 12 years and including at some point a few years back becoming the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE. I worked with the Central Asian countries pretty much six or seven years after they gained their independence in the early ‘90s until today.More ...
Question:Good morning, Congressman Hastings. It is our pleasure to have you here at VOA. My question is: you supported Kazakhstan’s bid to chair the OSCE back in 2007. Please tell us the main reason for your support.
Co-Chairman Hastings:That’s a very good question and, I had been involved at that time in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for almost 12 years and including at some point a few years back becoming the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE. I worked with the Central Asian countries pretty much six or seven years after they gained their independence in the early ‘90s until today.More ...
Kazakhstan's foreign minister on his country's unlikely new role as Europe's democracy watchdog.
05.02.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
In a landmark for Central Asia, Kazakhstan this year has taken over the rotating chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) -- a key intergovernmental organization that monitors everything from security cooperation to political and human rights in 56 member states across Europe.More ...
OSCE Chairperson meets U.S. Secretary of State Clinton
05.02.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
The U.S. role in the OSCE is key to the renewed security dialogue launched in the Organization, said the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan's Secretary of State and Foreign Minister, Kanat Saudabayev, today after talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.More ...
Not a fair deal - Turkmenistan's relations with the West
04.02.2010. Category:Turkmenistan
When Turkmenistan began opening up to the outside world following the death of President Saparmurat Niazov three years ago, the theory was that increased economic engagement by Western states would encourage a more general relaxation of policy in such areas as human rights and political liberties.
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov with Hillary Clinton: Photo by US State Department.More ...
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov with Hillary Clinton: Photo by US State Department.More ...
OSCE Chairmanship discusses prospects of Transdniestrian settlement process
03.02.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
The Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for protracted conflicts, Ambassador Bolat Nurgaliyev, concluded a three-day visit to Moldova today.More ...
OSCE welcomes Kazakhstan as chair, but raises its record on rights
03.02.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
The U.S. arm of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has welcomed Kazakhstan as the new chair of the organization but cautioned the former Soviet republic that it must improve its own rights record if it wants to be effective in its new role.
OSCE Chairman n Office Kanat Saudabaev says his government will deepen the OSCE's humanitarian engagement in Afghanistan
February 02, 2010More ...
OSCE Chairman n Office Kanat Saudabaev says his government will deepen the OSCE's humanitarian engagement in Afghanistan
February 02, 2010More ...
US exploring new routes to Afghanistan
02.02.2010. Category:Central Asia
The United States is exploring the idea of expanding the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a supply line for US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, by adding a Chinese branch. Sources familiar with the NDN tell EurasiaNet that US officials are also considering the possibility of seeking a sea-and-land route utilizing ports in the Russian Far East.More ...
Kazakh official warns against quitting Afghanistan
01.02.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
When Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kanat Saudabayev, begins a five-day U.S. visit in Washington on Monday, one of the main topics of discussion is likely to be a proposal to hold a summit meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.More ...
Kazakhstan to intensify OSCE engagement to support security and stability in Afghanistan
01.02.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan will play an active role in furthering OSCE initiatives to strengthen Afghanistan's borders, develop co-operation and enhance law enforcement activities, said the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakh Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, at the international London Conference on Afghanistan today.More ...
Karimov’s plan: Uzbekistan to strengthen bilateral cooperation with USA
29.01.2010. Category:Uzbekistan
The President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov approved the Action Plan on strengthening bilateral cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the United States of America for 2010, Gazeta.Uz reports. It has to be mentioned that the Uzbek leader signed the appropriate decree on January 11; nonetheless, only today many local mass media reported this fact.More ...
NATO and Kazakhstan reach transit pact for Afghanistan
27.01.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
NATO and Kazakhstan completed an agreement on Wednesday that will permit NATO allies to ship cargo through Kazakh territory to Afghanistan, providing an important alternative to vulnerable routes elsewhere.More ...
Former OSCE chair says time ripe for 'serious look' at reform
15.01.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
The 56-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is facing hard times as observers increasingly question its relevance and effectiveness. At a Permanent Council session in Vienna on January 14, the new Kazakh chairmanship of the OSCE will lay out its plan for the coming year -- an agenda that former OSCE Chairman in Office and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb describes as "an extensive and ambitious working program."
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb speaks at an OSCE council in Helsinki.
Stubb, who chaired the organization in 2008, spoke to RFE/RL correspondent Robert Coalson about the challenges the OSCE will face in 2010.More ...
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb speaks at an OSCE council in Helsinki.
Stubb, who chaired the organization in 2008, spoke to RFE/RL correspondent Robert Coalson about the challenges the OSCE will face in 2010.More ...
OSCE role highlights slow Kazakhstan reforms
15.01.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is fulfilling one of its most cherished foreign policy goals in taking up the chair of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the human rights watchdog.More ...
Kazakhstan assumes presidency of Europe security group
15.01.2010. Category:Kazakhstan
History is in the making in this Central Asian republic, the largest and the most developed of the former Soviet republics east of the Urals, as Kazakhstan assumed the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Thursday.More ...
Strategic Assessment of the Caspian Sea Basin Region
04.12.2009. Category:Central Asia
On May 7 and 8, the Brookings Energy Security Initiative (ESI) and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP) co-hosted a conference entitled "Strategic Assessment of the Caspian Sea Basin Region".More ...
Tajikistan may stop water flow as Uzbekistan pulls plug on powe
01.12.2009. Category:Tajikistan | Uzbekistan
For more than a decade Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have had a rocky relationship. But now, following an announcement by Tashkent that it is withdrawing from the Central Asian electricity grid, bilateral ties may take a dangerous nosedive.More ...
Educating Afghans not an OSCE pipe dream
01.12.2009. Category:Kazakhstan
Fresh from Kabul, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev vowed to strengthen the humanitarian dimension of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s strategy for Afghanistan when his country assumes the OSCE's chairmanship in January 2010. The situation in Afghanistan now appears to be definitely worse than it was a couple years ago.More ...
Pentagon plans for deployment of special force to states outside Afghanistan
18.09.2009. Category:Central Asia
The US military is preparing for a worst-case scenario in Central Asia. The Pentagon is presently developing plans covering the potential deployment of elite Special Forces to Central Asian states other than Afghanistan.More ...
Is Turkmenistan a reliable partner for the EU? New ETG Analysis
16.09.2009. Category:Turkmenistan
Relations between the European Union (EU) and Turkmenistan are focused on establishing an energy dialogue. Prior to the death of President Niyazov, Turkmenistan was the most isolated country in Central Asia. Ties between Brussels and Ashgabat were poor at best. The emergence of Berdymukhamedov as Niyazov’s successor and his subsequent election to the presidency gave the EU a chance to move bilateral relations with Turkmenistan to a qualitatively new level. The initial rhetoric of the new president was promising. He appeared to identify some changes in foreign and economic policy, namely, a strengthening of the country’s orientation towards the West. This encouraged Brussels to hope for new opportunities with Turkmenistan.More ...
NATO envoy plays down Turkmen base plans
04.09.2009. Category:Turkmenistan
NATO special representative for Central Asia and Caucasus Robert Simmons has downplayed the controversy over Turkmenistan's plan to establish a naval base on its Caspian coast, saying it's natural for littoral states to boost border security to protect against an increasingly active transit route for illegal activities. More ...
Uzbekistandoffish
27.08.2009. Category:Uzbekistan
In my opinion, Uzbekistan has been and remains the most able of the former Soviet Central Asian states to annoy, frustrate, and otherwise make life difficult for Russia. This is not to say that Russia’s government has no power in Tashkent. Allow me to digress -More ...
Central Asian experts discuss regional water issues in Almaty
27.08.2009. Category:Central Asia
On August 27 Almaty is hosting the session of working group for the development of regional agreement under "Facilitation of partnership for dam security in Central Asia" project, funded by European economic commission of UN (EEC), Asia-plus reports.More ...
Is Turkey trying to help U.S. stay at Manas?
28.05.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Scant attention has been paid to Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s three-day visit to Kyrgyzstan, which began on May 26.
But some observers think Gul’s trip -- the first to Bishkek by a Turkish president in nine years -- is more than a bilateral visit and might be an important geopolitical gambit in which Gul is doing the West’s bidding. More ...
But some observers think Gul’s trip -- the first to Bishkek by a Turkish president in nine years -- is more than a bilateral visit and might be an important geopolitical gambit in which Gul is doing the West’s bidding. More ...
Shooting reported in Uzbek town
26.05.2009. Category:Uzbekistan | Kyrgyzstan
Police in Uzbekistan exchanged gunfire with a group of armed men in the eastern town of Khanabad and an explosion was heard, witnesses have said.
More ...Uzbekistan opens airbase to NATO freight
15.05.2009. Category:Uzbekistan
Four years after closing down a United States military airbase, Uzbekistan has given NATO access to transit facilities at Navoi airport. Although it has done so indirectly, through a deal with South Korea, NBCentralAsia analysts say the Uzbek leadership is deliberately .
More ...Uzbekistan gives US air base it needs for Afghan operations
11.05.2009. Category:Uzbekistan
With a helping hand from South Korea, the United States has reestablished a strategic presence in Uzbekistan - sort of. The development provides a boost for US efforts to press an offensive against Islamic militants in Afghanistan, and offers evidence that Russia’s influence in Central Asia is waning.More ...
Ex-Soviet states pledge NATO help on Afghanistan
26.03.2009. Category:Central Asia
Reuters - A grouping of former Soviet states that controls a key land route from Europe to Afghanistan has agreed to offer "every kind" of help to NATO forces there, its head said.More ...
The French military remains a welcome presence in Dushanbe
19.03.2009. Category:Tajikistan
For seven years, passengers arriving at the Dushanbe Airport may have noticed several western military planes and temporary hangers at the far end of the tarmac. On occasion, they could see twin-prop C-160 transport aircraft; at other times sleek Mirage fighter jets.More ...
Pentagon looks to become engine for economic stabilization
19.03.2009. Category:Tajikistan
A Pentagon-funded aid program to Tajikistan will aim to promote economic development in some of the most neglected parts of the country over the next three years, in an attempt to "prevent the rise of another Afghanistan."
More ...
More ...
Regional ties are key to stability in south, Central Asia
12.03.2009. Category:Central Asia
It is a pet peeve of many a "Eurasianist" geopolitical analyst that the U.S. State Department groups Central and South Asia together in its organizational structure. There may be historical links across Afghanistan, they argue, but these pale in comparison to the Caspian-Central Asia region's links to Russia, the West, and even China. Indeed, the geopolitics of energy, security, and development across Eurasia are usually put in terms of east-west (Western-oriented) and north-south (Russia-oriented) links.More ...
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan confirm new supply outes
06.03.2009. Category:Uzbekistan | Turkmenistan
On February 24 and 25 Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov paid a state visit to Uzbekistan for talks with President Islom Karimov. The discussions, which covered a wide range of issues, signaled a further strengthening of bilateral ties; but this was overshadowed by the confirmation by both leaders that their countries would participate in the northern supply route, assisting in the delivery of non-lethal materials to Afghanistan (Uzbek National News Agency, February 25). This is a further indication that the security dynamics in the region are rapidly changing following Russia's recent moves to undermine the U.S. military presence at Manas and activate the CSTO Rapid Reaction Forces. U.S. and NATO planning staffs are evidently engaged in a search for viable options to ensure continued supplies for the forces in Afghanistan.More ...
No easy routes into Afghanistan
05.03.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
“WELCOME to Freedom’s Frontier,” reads a wooden sign at the pine-clad headquarters of America’s Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan. With its picnic tables, mountain views and community-outreach programmes, this site provides a tranquil vantage-point for the war in Afghanistan, just 90 minutes’ flight away. But Kyrgyzstan said in February that it was closing Manas, which the American-led coalition uses to ferry thousands of troops into Afghanistan each year and as a base for refuelling planes for combat aircraft.More ...
Kyrgyzstan says U.S. base closure is final
05.03.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan will not reverse its decision to shut a U.S. military air base that was used by Washington for the war in Afghanistan, a spokesman for President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Thursday.
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Kyrgyzstan open to air base talks with U.S.
05.03.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is ready for talks with the United States on the future of its Manas military air base, which is due to be shut down in six months, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.More ...
Turkmen, Uzbeks to Help NATO’s Afghan Effort
05.03.2009. Category:Uzbekistan | Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are to allow NATO freight to cross their territory on its way to Afghanistan. NBCentralAsia see this as a clear sign that both states want to cooperate with the West, and also to demonstrate a new commitment to work in tandem with one another. More ...
Kyrgyzstan to face the power cuts as Kazakhstan quits the electricity grid
27.02.2009. Category:Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan said it is forced to limit electricity use in its northern regions, including the capital city of Bishkek, during peak hours, from 18.00 to 22.00, 24.kg news agency reports.More ...
Russia’s resurgence & the closing of Manas
27.02.2009. Category:Central Asia
After Russia forced Kyrgyzstan’s hand in closing Manas Airbase, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), formed in 2002, has increased its role by creating a Rapid Reaction Force.More ...
Russia and Its Neighbors
27.02.2009. Category:Central Asia
A glimpse at recent prominent headlines involving Russia - “Conflict with Georgia”, “Gas Dispute with Ukraine”, “Financial Aid to Kyrgyzstan” - clearly illustrates that Moscow’s evolving agenda in the post-Soviet space can no longer be ignored. The United States must recognize that former Soviet states are and will continue to be an increasingly crucial focus of Russia’s foreign policy.More ...
Afghan supply train makes way through Uzbek territory
27.02.2009. Category:Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is allowing the transit of non-military goods bound for US troops in Afghanistan. President Islam Karimov confirmed February 25 that a train full of cargo was rattling its way across the domestic rail network.More ...
Ashkhabad opens airspace to US and NATO supply flights to Afghanistan
27.02.2009. Category:Turkmenistan
Citing a desire to help Afghanistan in "matters of humanitarian concern," Turkmenistan’s leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, announced February 25 that Turkmenistan will permit US and NATO planes to ferry non-military goods to troops in Afghanistan across the Central Asian country’s airspace.More ...
Despite Kyrgyz vote to close U.S. Base, Gates explores options to keep it open
20.02.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that the United States might consider increasing payments to Kyrgyzstan for access to a crucial air base, just hours after the Kyrgyz Parliament voted to terminate the lease and require the Americans to vacate the base within six months.
“We have not resigned ourselves to this being the last word,” Mr. Gates said at a meeting here of NATO defense ministers to discuss the need for more combat forces and reconstruction teams in Afghanistan.
The base, in Manas, plays a central role for NATO’s Afghan mission. It provides transit facilities for thousands of personnel and 500 tons of cargo each month, and it is used by the tanker aircraft that refuel fighter planes on missions over Afghanistan. The Obama administration has called the war there a high priority, announcing this week that an additional 17,000 American troops would be sent in the coming months. The loss of the base is seen as a serious challenge.
Mr. Gates said the United States remained prepared to discuss with Kyrgyzstan whether larger fees were warranted for use of the base, but he cautioned, “We are not going to be ridiculous about it.”
“Manas is important,” he said, “but it is not irreplaceable.”
He said that American negotiators already were deep into discussions with “a number of different countries,” including Russia, about alternatives to the logistics hub in Kyrgyzstan.
It remained unclear how quickly the United States would have to find an alternative. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan was expected to send Washington an official notice, but American officials said they still did not know when it would be received or when the six-month countdown would start. Mr. Bakiyev signed the legislation on Friday.
The bill in Parliament was approved by 78 of the 81 lawmakers present, with two voting against it and one abstaining.
The Kyrgyz government in Bishkek had longstanding complaints about the base and had asked for more cash compensation. Tensions were exacerbated in 2006 when an American serviceman fatally shot a Kyrgyz truck driver.
Mr. Bakiyev announced the move to close the base at a news conference with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, who this month promised to shore up Kyrgyzstan’s struggling economy with about $2.15 billion in loans and grants. Moscow has long complained about the continued American military presence in Central Asia, and many in Washington concluded that Russia had encouraged the move in an attempt to assert its dominance in the region.
Although Russian and Kyrgyz officials say there was no connection between the Kremlin’s financial aid and efforts to kick out the Americans, senior American officials have complained that the Russians are trying to have it both ways — with the Kremlin expressing a desire to support the international military mission in Afghanistan while pressing the Kyrgyz government to end American access to its air base.
In public comments as part of the vote, Kyrgyz lawmakers portrayed the action as the culmination of years of complaints and said the American presence in Central Asia had outlasted its usefulness.
“It is impossible to make people of Afghanistan live by standards which are brought in from abroad,” said Kabai Karabhekov, a member of Parliament. “One has to give an opportunity to Afghan people to build their country themselves.”
The shadow of Russian actions in Central Asia and Central Europe fell over the session of NATO ministers here, as Mr. Gates also was pressed on whether the Obama administration intended to move forward with a plan for missile defenses in Europe that had been a priority of the Bush administration’s foreign policy and that had brought threats of military retaliation from Russia.
Mr. Gates, in his first overseas trip since he began serving the new president, said the missile defense bases planned in Poland and the Czech Republic would proceed if the technology proved it could work and was affordable.
Neither of those two caveats were part of the Bush administration’s language when discussing requirements for the bases.
But Mr. Gates also made it clear that the Obama administration had not yet met on the issue of missile defense policy, and that no decisions had been made on how to proceed.
“The administration has not yet reviewed where it is on a whole range of issues,” Mr. Gates said, including the missile defense program and how to manage that within the relationship with Russia.
Mr. Gates said the radar proposed for the Czech Republic and the 10 interceptor missiles for Poland were to counter a potential threat from Iran, and he reiterated that the United States would work with NATO and wanted Russia as a partner in the effort.
To reassure his hosts here, Mr. Gates said that a series of new bilateral military cooperation efforts with Poland were proceeding even as the prospects for the missile defense site on Polish territory remained uncertain.
Also Thursday, NATO officials confirmed that Germany had pledged 600 more soldiers to the mission in Afghanistan.
“We welcome the commitment of additional German forces for the upcoming Afghan national elections,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “For those contests to be credible, voter turnout must be robust and representative, and improving the security situation is the key to making that happen.”
Italy announced this week that it would add 500 troops to the alliance mission in Afghanistan by April.
Source: New York Times
“We have not resigned ourselves to this being the last word,” Mr. Gates said at a meeting here of NATO defense ministers to discuss the need for more combat forces and reconstruction teams in Afghanistan.
The base, in Manas, plays a central role for NATO’s Afghan mission. It provides transit facilities for thousands of personnel and 500 tons of cargo each month, and it is used by the tanker aircraft that refuel fighter planes on missions over Afghanistan. The Obama administration has called the war there a high priority, announcing this week that an additional 17,000 American troops would be sent in the coming months. The loss of the base is seen as a serious challenge.
Mr. Gates said the United States remained prepared to discuss with Kyrgyzstan whether larger fees were warranted for use of the base, but he cautioned, “We are not going to be ridiculous about it.”
“Manas is important,” he said, “but it is not irreplaceable.”
He said that American negotiators already were deep into discussions with “a number of different countries,” including Russia, about alternatives to the logistics hub in Kyrgyzstan.
It remained unclear how quickly the United States would have to find an alternative. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev of Kyrgyzstan was expected to send Washington an official notice, but American officials said they still did not know when it would be received or when the six-month countdown would start. Mr. Bakiyev signed the legislation on Friday.
The bill in Parliament was approved by 78 of the 81 lawmakers present, with two voting against it and one abstaining.
The Kyrgyz government in Bishkek had longstanding complaints about the base and had asked for more cash compensation. Tensions were exacerbated in 2006 when an American serviceman fatally shot a Kyrgyz truck driver.
Mr. Bakiyev announced the move to close the base at a news conference with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, who this month promised to shore up Kyrgyzstan’s struggling economy with about $2.15 billion in loans and grants. Moscow has long complained about the continued American military presence in Central Asia, and many in Washington concluded that Russia had encouraged the move in an attempt to assert its dominance in the region.
Although Russian and Kyrgyz officials say there was no connection between the Kremlin’s financial aid and efforts to kick out the Americans, senior American officials have complained that the Russians are trying to have it both ways — with the Kremlin expressing a desire to support the international military mission in Afghanistan while pressing the Kyrgyz government to end American access to its air base.
In public comments as part of the vote, Kyrgyz lawmakers portrayed the action as the culmination of years of complaints and said the American presence in Central Asia had outlasted its usefulness.
“It is impossible to make people of Afghanistan live by standards which are brought in from abroad,” said Kabai Karabhekov, a member of Parliament. “One has to give an opportunity to Afghan people to build their country themselves.”
The shadow of Russian actions in Central Asia and Central Europe fell over the session of NATO ministers here, as Mr. Gates also was pressed on whether the Obama administration intended to move forward with a plan for missile defenses in Europe that had been a priority of the Bush administration’s foreign policy and that had brought threats of military retaliation from Russia.
Mr. Gates, in his first overseas trip since he began serving the new president, said the missile defense bases planned in Poland and the Czech Republic would proceed if the technology proved it could work and was affordable.
Neither of those two caveats were part of the Bush administration’s language when discussing requirements for the bases.
But Mr. Gates also made it clear that the Obama administration had not yet met on the issue of missile defense policy, and that no decisions had been made on how to proceed.
“The administration has not yet reviewed where it is on a whole range of issues,” Mr. Gates said, including the missile defense program and how to manage that within the relationship with Russia.
Mr. Gates said the radar proposed for the Czech Republic and the 10 interceptor missiles for Poland were to counter a potential threat from Iran, and he reiterated that the United States would work with NATO and wanted Russia as a partner in the effort.
To reassure his hosts here, Mr. Gates said that a series of new bilateral military cooperation efforts with Poland were proceeding even as the prospects for the missile defense site on Polish territory remained uncertain.
Also Thursday, NATO officials confirmed that Germany had pledged 600 more soldiers to the mission in Afghanistan.
“We welcome the commitment of additional German forces for the upcoming Afghan national elections,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “For those contests to be credible, voter turnout must be robust and representative, and improving the security situation is the key to making that happen.”
Italy announced this week that it would add 500 troops to the alliance mission in Afghanistan by April.
Source: New York Times
US moves suggest Afghan NATO supply-route talks with Kyrgyzstan
20.02.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan's eviction of U.S. forces from an air base in the country was already seen as a setback for NATO's efforts to expand its presence in Afghanistan.
That's because the air base at Manas, whose lease to the U.S. forces came closer to ending with Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev signing off on a parliamentary bill calling for their eviction, has long served as a key staging post for the alliance's military operations in Afghanistan.
Bakiev's signature is the final step before Kyrgyz authorities issue a notice that will give the United States 180 days to vacate the facility, used as a transit point for 15,000 troops and some 500 tons of cargo each month to and from Afghanistan.
Now, defense ministers from NATO countries meeting for a second day in Krakow, Poland, will have to address another setback: The government in Pakistan's Punjab Province has cancelled a private deal on a new supply terminal for overland NATO deliveries into Afghanistan from the port city of Karachi. They say the deal was cancelled because of security concerns.
The main land route into landlocked Afghanistan passes through Pakistan's lawless Khyber tribal region and another land crossing through the southwest province of Baluchistan. Regional insurgency is rife in those areas and pro-Taliban militants have been focusing attacks on bridges, terminals, and even convoys of NATO supply trucks.
Alternative Routes
With the pressure growing on NATO's logistical support, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed at the NATO gathering in Krakow that Washington is now in talks with several other countries about alternative supply routes that would replace Manas.
Still, Gates suggested that talks on the future of the base are still open and that there could be negotiations with Bishkek about the amount of money paid for maintaining a U.S. presence at Manas.
He told reporters in Krakow on February 19 that the Pentagon is looking to see if there is justification for Bishkek to receive a larger payment. But he said Washington was "not going to be ridiculous about it."
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are possible alternatives. U.S. Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek has been in Dushanbe for talks with Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi on the issue.
Harnitchek said in Dushanbe on February 19 that Tajikistan has agreed in principle to the use of its railways and roads for the transit of "nonlethal" military supplies into Afghanistan:
"Clearly any nation that shares a border with Afghanistan is important, and because the distance to our bases in Afghanistan is likely the shortest from Tajikistan, so by extension, Tajikistan is very important," Harnitchek said.
Harnitchek also said Uzbekistan has agreed to the transit of cargo and that the Pentagon plans to send 50 to 200 cargo containers each week from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan and then by land into Afghanistan.
But U.S. officials are emphasizing that no formal agreement has been signed yet.
Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry has declined to comment on whether it had approved the transit of NATO supplies across its territory. General David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, visited Uzbekistan on February 17 in what appears to have been an attempt to seek the use of the country as a transit route for supplies in Afghanistan.
Moscow Give And Take
Kyrgyz President Bakiev announced the pending closure of Manas earlier this month, complaining the United States was not paying enough rent for the base. His announcement came shortly after he secured $2.15 billion in aid and loans from Russia during a visit to Moscow.
That has led some observers to conclude that the Kremlin has had a hand in instigating the closure of Manas. But Russia also has offered the use of its railroad network for the overland transport of nonlethal military supplies into Afghanistan.
Patrick Moon, the assistant U.S. secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, said in Helsinki this week that the route would carry cargo from Latvia through Russia and Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan -- and eventually on to Afghanistan. He said the first trains could carry that cargo before the end of February.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of NATO defense ministers' meeting in Krakow, Gates warned that Moscow is trying to "have it both ways" by offering help in Afghanistan and undermining U.S. efforts there at the same time.
Gates also has sought to downplay the significance of Manas, saying that it is import but not irreplaceable.
Analysts see those remarks, and moves by the Pentagon to seek alternative supply routes, as a sign that price negotiations are still under way between Washington and Bishkek on the use of Manas.
Source: RFE/RL
That's because the air base at Manas, whose lease to the U.S. forces came closer to ending with Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev signing off on a parliamentary bill calling for their eviction, has long served as a key staging post for the alliance's military operations in Afghanistan.
Bakiev's signature is the final step before Kyrgyz authorities issue a notice that will give the United States 180 days to vacate the facility, used as a transit point for 15,000 troops and some 500 tons of cargo each month to and from Afghanistan.
Now, defense ministers from NATO countries meeting for a second day in Krakow, Poland, will have to address another setback: The government in Pakistan's Punjab Province has cancelled a private deal on a new supply terminal for overland NATO deliveries into Afghanistan from the port city of Karachi. They say the deal was cancelled because of security concerns.
The main land route into landlocked Afghanistan passes through Pakistan's lawless Khyber tribal region and another land crossing through the southwest province of Baluchistan. Regional insurgency is rife in those areas and pro-Taliban militants have been focusing attacks on bridges, terminals, and even convoys of NATO supply trucks.
Alternative Routes
With the pressure growing on NATO's logistical support, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed at the NATO gathering in Krakow that Washington is now in talks with several other countries about alternative supply routes that would replace Manas.
Still, Gates suggested that talks on the future of the base are still open and that there could be negotiations with Bishkek about the amount of money paid for maintaining a U.S. presence at Manas.
He told reporters in Krakow on February 19 that the Pentagon is looking to see if there is justification for Bishkek to receive a larger payment. But he said Washington was "not going to be ridiculous about it."
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are possible alternatives. U.S. Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek has been in Dushanbe for talks with Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi on the issue.
Harnitchek said in Dushanbe on February 19 that Tajikistan has agreed in principle to the use of its railways and roads for the transit of "nonlethal" military supplies into Afghanistan:
"Clearly any nation that shares a border with Afghanistan is important, and because the distance to our bases in Afghanistan is likely the shortest from Tajikistan, so by extension, Tajikistan is very important," Harnitchek said.
Harnitchek also said Uzbekistan has agreed to the transit of cargo and that the Pentagon plans to send 50 to 200 cargo containers each week from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan and then by land into Afghanistan.
But U.S. officials are emphasizing that no formal agreement has been signed yet.
Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry has declined to comment on whether it had approved the transit of NATO supplies across its territory. General David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, visited Uzbekistan on February 17 in what appears to have been an attempt to seek the use of the country as a transit route for supplies in Afghanistan.
Moscow Give And Take
Kyrgyz President Bakiev announced the pending closure of Manas earlier this month, complaining the United States was not paying enough rent for the base. His announcement came shortly after he secured $2.15 billion in aid and loans from Russia during a visit to Moscow.
That has led some observers to conclude that the Kremlin has had a hand in instigating the closure of Manas. But Russia also has offered the use of its railroad network for the overland transport of nonlethal military supplies into Afghanistan.
Patrick Moon, the assistant U.S. secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, said in Helsinki this week that the route would carry cargo from Latvia through Russia and Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan -- and eventually on to Afghanistan. He said the first trains could carry that cargo before the end of February.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of NATO defense ministers' meeting in Krakow, Gates warned that Moscow is trying to "have it both ways" by offering help in Afghanistan and undermining U.S. efforts there at the same time.
Gates also has sought to downplay the significance of Manas, saying that it is import but not irreplaceable.
Analysts see those remarks, and moves by the Pentagon to seek alternative supply routes, as a sign that price negotiations are still under way between Washington and Bishkek on the use of Manas.
Source: RFE/RL
Last flight out of Kyrgyzstan
20.02.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
For two weeks, the U.S. struggle to hold on to its last air base in Central Asia has made headlines, and the vote in Kyrgyzstan's parliament yesterday to close Manas Air Base will spark still more coverage. Analysts have rushed to portray this as a new chess match between a resurgent Russian Federation and a recalibrating United States; just as a new American president seeks to bolster the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, the principal land corridor from Pakistan is severed through a bridge bombing and the likely air base closure threatens the Obama administration's plan. The oversimplified but oft-repeated explanation is that Kremlin pressure is the source of Washington's predicament.More ...
Moscow indicates it won't be ignored in the 'near abroad'
19.02.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
On a recent visit to Moscow, the president of Kyrgyzstan announced that he was canceling the U.S. right to use the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan, which has served as a transit point for U.S. and NATO shipments to Afghanistan since December 2001. S. Frederick Starr, a long-time expert on the Caucasus and Central Asia, says Russia is using a "carrot and stick" approach to attempt to force the United States out of the air base. He says this shows Moscow's determination to reclaim its traditional influence in the so-called near abroad and its determination "to establish a sphere of influence, and they mean an exclusive sphere of influence, in the former Soviet territories, including the Caucasus and Central Asia."More ...
The US is changing its policy towards Central Asia
19.02.2009. Category:Central Asia
Today we can see the U.S.A. changing its policy towards Central Asia, which is connected with the renewal of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan under new President Barack Obama.More ...
US adopting new views on possible security threats in Central Asia
18.02.2009. Category:Central Asia
Security threats are rapidly shifting in Central Asia, according to the America’s intelligence chief. Hazards faced by the United States coming from Central Asia are now more likely to be connected to economic factors, than to Islamic radicalism. The US government’s shifting perception of Central Asian security indicates that policy making in President Barack Obama’s administration will not be guided by "Islamophobia," some experts contend.More ...
Did Petraeus secure an Afghan transit agre ement with Tashkent?
18.02.2009. Category:Uzbekistan
The chief of US Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus, has wrapped up a visit to Uzbekistan. Sources indicate that the discussions went well, and that the United States may have secured Tashkent’s permission to begin rail shipments of non-lethal supplies via Central Asia to Afghanistan.More ...
Barack Obama's Uzbekistan Problem
17.02.2009. Category:Uzbekistan
President Barack Obama's administration is not yet a month old, and editorialists have already accused the new president of losing his innocence after he was forced to abandon his lofty talk of bipartisanship over the economic stimulus plan. But a touch of partisan politics at home is nothing compared with the ethical predicament now looming in Central Asia, where Obama may soon need to choose either funding a vicious dictator in Uzbekistan or hindering the mission in Afghanistan. Getting into bed with Uzbekistan could be Obama's first ugly but necessary foreign-policy compromise.More ...
Petraeus in Uzbekistan to discuss Afghan supply routes
17.02.2009. Category:Uzbekistan
General David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, has arrived in Uzbekistan for talks on new supply routes for U.S. troops in Afghanistan and other security issues, the U.S. Embassy there said.More ...
Ten years after terror's arrival in Central Asia
16.02.2009. Category:Uzbekistan
When Tashkent's central districts were rocked by series of bombings 10 years ago, terrorism was not a word commonly equated with Central Asia.More ...
Kyrgyzstan takes step towards U.S. air base closure
16.02.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan moved a step closer to evicting U.S. troops on Monday after the government sent to parliament the final package of documents required to close down an air base used to support U.S. forces in nearby Afghanistan.More ...
New ICG Report: On the road to failure
13.02.2009. Category:Tajikistan
Far from being a bulwark against the spread of extremism and violence from Afghanistan, Tajikistan is looking increasingly like its southern neighbour – a weak state that is suffering from a failure of leadership. Energy infrastructure is near total breakdown for the second winter running, and it is likely migrant labourer remittances, the driver of the country’s economy in recent years, will fall dramatically as a result of the world economic crisis.More ...
The issue of “Manas” is going to be considered by another parliament committee on February 17
13.02.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
It is expected that the governmental decree on dissolving the contract for the use of “Manas” airbase by air forces of USA and their anti-terrorist coalition allies in Afghanistan will be considered by another Jogorku Kenesh (parliament) committee of Kyrgyzstan. This was declared by the press-service of the republican parliament.
It is worth saying that on February 9 the parliament committee for defense, security, law and judicial order reform already approved the withdrawal of airbase from the territory of the republic. Now, the session of the committee for constitutional law, state structure, legislation and human rights will consider this topic on February 17, 2009 at 2pm.
The Kyrgyz Republic draft Law “On denunciation of response note of Kyrgyz Republic foreign affairs ministry to the note # 542, issued by the Embassy of the United States of America, dated December 4, 2001, and together forming the Agreement between the government of Kyrgyz Republic and the government of the United States of America” was addressed to the parliament by the government of Kyrgyzstan on February 4th.
“Ferghana.ru” was reporting earlier that the decision of Kyrgyzstan’s officials to end the activity of anti-terrorist coalition military base was announced by the President of the country, Kurmanbek Bakiev, at the press-conference in Moscow on February 3, 2009.
It is worth to remind that US airbase was launched in Kyrgyzstan on December 2001, based on UN mandate, supporting “Enduring freedom” anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan, conducted by of coalition forces. Today, there are more than one thousand US soldiers as well as military transport aircrafts and fuel servicing planes, located at the airbase.
Source: Ferghana.ru
It is worth saying that on February 9 the parliament committee for defense, security, law and judicial order reform already approved the withdrawal of airbase from the territory of the republic. Now, the session of the committee for constitutional law, state structure, legislation and human rights will consider this topic on February 17, 2009 at 2pm.
The Kyrgyz Republic draft Law “On denunciation of response note of Kyrgyz Republic foreign affairs ministry to the note # 542, issued by the Embassy of the United States of America, dated December 4, 2001, and together forming the Agreement between the government of Kyrgyz Republic and the government of the United States of America” was addressed to the parliament by the government of Kyrgyzstan on February 4th.
“Ferghana.ru” was reporting earlier that the decision of Kyrgyzstan’s officials to end the activity of anti-terrorist coalition military base was announced by the President of the country, Kurmanbek Bakiev, at the press-conference in Moscow on February 3, 2009.
It is worth to remind that US airbase was launched in Kyrgyzstan on December 2001, based on UN mandate, supporting “Enduring freedom” anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan, conducted by of coalition forces. Today, there are more than one thousand US soldiers as well as military transport aircrafts and fuel servicing planes, located at the airbase.
Source: Ferghana.ru
Robert Gates: “Manas” airbase, possibly, will not be closed
12.02.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
American “Manas” airbase in Kyrgyzstan is an important spot on the way to Afghanistan, but it is possible find alternative for it. This was announced by US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates on February 10, the Lenta.Ru reports with the reference to Agence France-Presse. “Manas” base is not irreplaceable, Mr. Gates said and added that American military officials already started looking at alternatives. Moreover, USA “do not foreclose the possibility” that the base would remain open.More ...
US options after Kyrgyz base closure
11.02.2009. Category:Kyrgyzstan
US officials are looking for alternative ways of transporting soldiers and goods to Afghanistan after a decision by the Kyrgyz government to close a US base on its soil.More ...
A new direction for U.S. policy in the Caspian region
11.02.2009. Category:Central Asia
Focusing U.S. policy in the Caspian on containing Russian and Chinese influence has done little to advance U.S. security interests, and reduced its standing in the region to its lowest level in decades. The Obama administration needs a new approach that provides opportunities for local leaders to engage with the United States in economic and political development, concludes a new policy brief by Martha Brill Olcott. More ...
Interview with Arkadiy Dubnov: «The countries, lacking the culture of discussion, are not able to cooperate»
11.02.2009. Category:Central Asia
The extraordinary summits of EurAsEC and CSTO, which took place in Moscow on February 4th, have resulted in, at first glance, important decisions that require substantial financial investment and strong political will from the member countries. The “Ferghana.ru” correspondent interviewed Arkadiy Dubnov, the expert on Central Asia and international observer of “Vremya Novostey” newspaper, on whether it is possible to view the establishment of 10 billion US dollars antirecessionary fund and operational response collective forces as “advancement”.More ...
First 2009 edition of ETG Central Asia News Digest released
25.01.2009. Category:Central Asia | Turkmenistan
The first edition of ETG’s Central Asia News Digest 2009 is available. This time we focus on Turkmenistan, discussing the health system, the energy supply in Turkmenistan, the influence of the financial global crisis on the country, reasons for Berdymukhamedov’s decision to fire members of the cabinet and the negotiations with NATO on security and further cooperation.
Again, this report is available in Russian and can be ordered.
Again, this report is available in Russian and can be ordered.
Military Rivalry in Central Asia
23.12.2008. Category:Central Asia
The attacks of 9/11 and the ensuing war in Afghanistan did not start the new "Great Game" in Central Asia. Local governments had already grasped the Islamist threat, as well as Russia's neo-imperial longings to dominate the region. Central Asia's great energy stakes, meanwhile, had already determined American resistance to Moscow's policy. More ...