HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Thursday, January 10, 2002 10:43 AM Russia edgy at spread of US bases in its
backyard
Ian Traynor in
Moscow
Thursday January 10, 2002 The Guardian The US military build-up in the
former Soviet republics of central Asia is raising fears in Moscow that
Washington is exploiting the Afghan war to establish a permanent, armed foothold
in the region.
The swift construction of US military bases is also likely to ring alarm
bells in Beijing, although the central Asian states appear to be embracing the
Americans to dilute Russian influence in what Moscow views as its strategic
backyard.
In the latest sign of the US build-up, Galaxy transport aircraft landed at
the Manas airfield outside Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, yesterday to prepare
for the arrival of at least 3,000 American troops.
The Americans have already stationed about 1,500 troops in Uzbekistan, struck
agreements to use airfields in Tajikistan, set up bases in Afghanistan, and have
secured Pakistani permission for US forces to pursue al-Qaida suspects on
Pakistani territory.
Of the five ex-Soviet states of central Asia, Turkmenistan alone is resisting
pressure to allow the deployment of US or other western forces on its soil,
although it is allowing overflights of military aircraft.
In Kazakhstan yesterday, the speaker of the Russian parliament, Gennady
Seleznev, effectively claimed the power of veto for Moscow on US deployments in
central Asia.
He pointed out that Russia has a collective security pact with the central
Asian states, except Uzbekistan, and added: "They [central Asians] must not take
any decisions without joint consultations in the framework of the treaty.
"Russia would not approve of the appearance of permanent US military bases in
central Asia."
Russia's armed forces newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda, complained yesterday of
"the inexorable growth" of the US military presence in central Asia, even
although the Afghan war was winding down. Washington now has 13 bases in nine
countries ringing Afghanistan and in the Gulf.
An American officer at the Manas base being built in Kyrgyzstan told the
Interfax news agency yesterday that up to four aircraft were landing daily, that
17 US planes had arrived since December, and that the base would hold 3,000
troops living in 10-man tents.
This base is 250 miles from the western Chinese border. With US bases to the
east in Japan, to the south in South Korea, and Washington's military support
for Taiwan, China may feel encircled. At a meeting in Beijing this week of
Chinese, Russian, and central Asian officials, aimed at dovetailing their
"counter-terrorism" strategies, Russia and China urged an end to outside
interference in Afghanistan.
But the central Asians, par ticularly the Uzbeks, appear happy to welcome the
US as a foil to the big regional powers.
The American troops moving to Kyrgyzstan will enjoy diplomatic status, as
they do in Tajikistan, under deals negotiated with the host countries. The US is
also allowed to control a three-mile security cordon around Manas base.
In addition to weakening traditional Russian domination, the central Asian
states - all of them authoritarian regimes regularly criticised by the US state
department on human rights grounds until September 11 - are being rewarded by US
aid and trade concessions and security and military cooperation deals.
Scores of French troops were flown to Kabul from Tajikistan yesterday. In an
agreement reached last week between the French and Tajik defence ministries,
Paris obtained permission to use Tajik airfields for operations in Afghanistan.
Last September, the Russians pooh-poohed the possibility of the US deploying
to central Asia. Then President Vladimir Putin gave the green light, enraging
many in his security and military elites.
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