# Uzbekistan says U.S. troops must leave



## Cloud Cover (30 Jul 2005)

Well this was an interesting development:


Uzbekistan says U.S. troops must leave
Base has been critical staging point for operations in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan has ended its agreement allowing U.S. military aircraft and personnel to use an air base that has been an important hub for American military operations in Afghanistan, administration officials said Saturday.

No reason was offered by either the U.S. State Department or the Defense Department for why Uzbekistan was evicting U.S. forces from Karshi-Khanabad air base, commonly referred to as K2.

The Washington Post, which first reported the eviction notice, said no reason was given by Uzbekistan, either, and that U.S. forces would have six months to leave.

The New York Times reported on its Web site Saturday that a State Department official called the abrupt action a response to a secret United Nations operation to take hundreds of Uzbek refugees from the region. The official said most of the 450 refugees who had fled to Kyrgyzstan after an Uzbek uprising in May had been airlifted to Romania and other countries on Friday despite the Uzbek government's desire that they be returned.

The U.S. Embassy in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent received the diplomatic note terminating the agreement on Friday, Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood said.

"We have to step back and look at our options now and see where we go from here," said Flood. "That airfield has been very important for our operations in Afghanistan" -- humanitarian as well as military.

"This is a bilateral agreement between two sovereign nations, and under that agreement either side has the option to terminate that agreement," State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said.


K2 has been a critical staging point for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan since the earliest days of the war, which began in October 2001. More recently, the base has been used to move supplies, including humanitarian aid, into northern Afghanistan. It also is a refueling point for transport planes.

The Uzbek government in recent months had tightened restriction on use of the base, including banning night flights.

The eviction notice came just days after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld returned from a visit to two Uzbek Central Asian neighbors, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Officials in Kyrgyzstan affirmed to Rumsfeld that U.S. forces can continue to use Manas air base for as long as the Afghan war requires.

U.S. forces do not use any bases in Tajikistan, which shares a long border with northern Afghanistan. The Pentagon has an arrangement that permits U.S. planes to refuel there under certain circumstances.

During his trip, Rumsfeld said he did not believe U.S. operations in Afghanistan would be hurt if the Uzbek government denied continued use of K2 because there are other air base options in the region.

"We're always thinking ahead. We'll be fine," Rumsfeld said on Monday.

In early July, a regional organization led by Russia and China issued a statement calling for the U.S. to set a timetable for withdrawing its forces from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbekistan's ties with Washington have deteriorated since the Bush administration joined other Western nations in urging an international investigation into the suppression of a May uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan.

Uzbek government troops fired on protesters in the city after militants seized a prison and a government building. Authorities denied that troops fired on unarmed civilians and said that 187 people died in the unrest; human rights groups put the figure as high as 750.

Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, who has ruled for 16 years and tolerates no dissent, has blamed the violence on Islamic militants.

He has rejected the demands for an outside inquiry, and, facing Western criticism, has found a strong support in Russia and China. Both of them are wary about the U.S. military presence in the strategic and resource-rich region.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

   
Find this article at: 
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/07/30/uzbek.us.base.ap/index.html   


                                                                                                                                                             

   
It seems to me the US has been expecting to get the boot, or they never would have permitted the UN to evacuate the refugees in the first place.   

The above article has been reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42.


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## Scoobie Newbie (1 Aug 2005)

I find it hard to believe that the UN could do anything in secret.


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## Spr.Earl (1 Aug 2005)

Er can you say local Election's?
Also Uncle sam did say they would leave if asked to do so. 
Lets see how long it takes.


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## Jarnhamar (1 Aug 2005)

"Well fellas the problem is that we didn't think you would actually ask us to leave....so....we're staying, whatchya gonna do?"


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## tomahawk6 (1 Aug 2005)

Uzbekistan does not provide a one of a kind basing capability. The US will just move logistics to other bases in the region.


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## paracowboy (1 Aug 2005)

The problem with Uzbekistan is the Uzbeks' poor record on human rights. The US Gov't has been applying pressure on them to lighten up, and they don't appreciate it. Plus, China and Russia are stepping in as they're nervous with Uncle Sam so close.

more from StrategyPage.com:

July 31, 2005: The Uzbek eviction of the U.S. Air Force from one of their airbases, was in response to to threats and bribes from China and Russia. The U.S. has been critical of the dictatorship in Uzbekistan, while China and Russia has been much friendlier. 

July 30, 2005: Uzbekistan has told the U.S. that it has six months to evacuate its personnel from the Uzbek airbase (Karshi-Khanabad). Offering enough money will probably get the Uzbeks to allow American transports to continue to use Uzbek airbases for refueling and emergency landings. 

July 26, 2005: Kyrgyzstan, one of the more democratic of the Central Asian nations, has agreed to play the U.S. off against China and Russia, to get the maximum amount of money from the Americans, in order to allow the U.S. to continue using the Kyrgyz airbase at Manas. 

July 12, 2005: Newly elected president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, responding to threats and bribes from China and Russia, has called for the United States to stop using the Kyrgyzstan air base America has been occupying for over three years, to support operations in Afghanistan.

July 11, 2005: Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the interim president of Kyrgyzstan, was declared the winner of the presidential election, with over 90 percent of the votes. A non-violent popular revolution forced out the long time dictator earlier this year. 

July 10, 2005: Kyrgyzstan is not much better off since the dictatorship has been overthrown. The new rulers are not organized or very popular. Elections appear to be splitting voters along ethnic and tribal lines. Uzbekistan continues to keep rebels under control, although even the overthrow of the current dictator may not lead to a true democracy, but another dictator. Even though the United States has been applying diplomatic and economic pressure on the dictators of Central Asia, Russia and China have been picking up the slack (and replacing lost American economic aid).

July 6, 2005: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan) has called on the United States to set a date when they will withdraw their bases from the region. Russia and China, which dominate the organization, believe American influence is threatening the dictators who dominate the governments of Central Asia. These despots are considered, at least by Russia and China, easier to deal with than democratically elected governments. China is still a communist dictatorship, while Russia is ruled by an elected, but very authoritarian, government.


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## Yrys (9 Apr 2010)

Future of US base in Kyrgyzstan in question

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47614000/jpg/_47614718_009085363-1.jpg
The current chaos creates uncertainty across Kyrgyzstan

With the revolution against Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, 
attention has turned again to the rivalry between the United States and 
Russia in this remote Central Asian republic - and the future of the US 
Manas air base there, which is used to reinforce Afghanistan.

There is little doubt that the Russians would ideally prefer not to see the 
Americans there at all. Kyrgyzstan is a former Soviet republic and some 
people there still look back to the Soviet Union with nostalgia. I found that 
out on a visit in 1996, particularly when talking to local Red Army veterans 
at a retirement home in the run-down capital Bishkek. They feared corruption 
and chaos with a Kyrgyz administration, fears that appear to have been fully 
born out. 

The Tulip Revolution of 2005 threw out the crony government of Askar Akayev 
and replaced it with the cronyism and nepotism of President Bakiyev. Anger - 
not ideology - appears to have been the motive behind this latest upheaval.

*Not the Cold War*

This is not old Cold War-style competition. Russia is actually helping Nato to 
send supplies to Afghanistan. Already occupied with its own Islamist problems, 
Moscow certainly does not want a Taliban victory there. On the other hand, it 
wants to maintain as much influence as possible in the region, so the Russian 
pendulum swings from time to time between helping and hindering the US.

At the moment, relations are good.

The new nuclear arms treaty has just been signed. President Barack Obama has 
withdrawn the anti-missile defence system from Poland and the Czech Republic.
Michael McFaul, the director for Russian and Eurasian affairs on President Obama's 
National Security Council, does not see the hand of Russia in the revolution.

"This is not some anti-American coup, that we know for sure. This is not some 
sponsored-by-the-Russians coup. There's just no evidence of that."

*Source of income*

Nevertheless there have been hints from some in the group now taking control in 
Kyrgyzstan that they have their eyes on the Manas base. One of them, Omurbek 
Tekebayev, who has taken over constitutional affairs, told Reuters news agency: 
"You've seen the level of Russia's joy when they saw Bakiyev gone. So now there 
is a high probability that the duration of the US air base's presence in Kyrgyzstan 
will be shortened."

This remains to be seen.

The leader of the interim government, the former Foreign Minister (and ambassador 
to the UK) Roza Otunbayeva, said there were no plans to review the Manas agreement. 
The new government, if confirmed in power, might find that the US base - formally 
called since last year a "Transit Centre" in deference to local sensitivities - is a useful 
source of income.

President Bakiyev played games over the base with the Russians and Americans last year.

Announcing that Manas would be closed, he got Moscow to give him a $2bn loan and then 
turned round and got the Americans to increase their rent from $17m to $60m a year and 
extended the lease for another year until this July. His parliament, having voted to close 
the base, promptly reversed its position. The rent - plus extra direct aid from the US of 
$117m - is not to be ignored in a country where the income per person is a few dollars 
per day.

So the conclusion of many outside observers is that the air base will carry on.

James Nixey of Chatham House in London says: "The continuation of US operations from 
the Manas airbase is America's only real interest in what is happening in Kyrgyzstan now.
"This concern is probably unfounded as any future Kyrgyz government will need the money 
and will shoulder the political flak."


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## SeanNewman (9 Apr 2010)

Every time I hear the word "Uzbekistan", all I can think about is Borat cursing them as he drives by their embassy.


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