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Houston Chronicle April 25, 2002, 11:14PM Rumsfeld firming ties in Central Asia By MICHAEL HEDGES SHANNON, Ireland -- On a mission to shore up alliances that a decade ago were unimaginable, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits Central Asia today for meetings with leaders of former Soviet republics. The sessions are designed to further military ties made quietly, but aggressively, by the Bush administration as part of its war on terrorism. The 'Stans, as diplomats informally call the states, stretch across a sparsely populated region of steppes, deserts and mountains, but they have become a key crossroads where several U.S. interests converge. The United States has entered deals to build military facilities in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. And earlier this month, Kazakhstan's defense minister announced that the Pentagon had agreed to a $5 million allocation to strengthen the security of oil pipelines and other facilities near the Caspian Sea. "We care about Central Asia not just because of the war on terrorism, or even because of the oil and gas in the region," said Zeyno Baran, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It is important because of geography." In an interview en route to Central Asia on Thursday, Rumsfeld said, "The countries on the periphery of Afghanistan are of course very important in and of themselves. They are also important to Afghanistan." A series of bases in the region could become critical in future crises from the Persian Gulf to the volatile border between India and Pakistan, experts said. But as the American presence grows in the area, countries such as Russia, China and Iran, which have considered Central Asia part of their sphere of influence, are getting nervous, experts said. "There is building opposition in Russia to allowing the United States to develop and expand its presence in Central Asia," said Andrew Hess, a professor of diplomacy at Tufts University. "The Chinese would be very concerned if the United States appeared to be an economic rival in the region," he said. "And the Iranians have considered Central Asia as part of their sphere of influence since the fifth century B.C." Rumsfeld will be visiting several Central Asian states on his four-day trip, meeting with military and political leaders. He also will visit U.S. troops and Afghan officials, including interim leader Hamid Karzai, during a one-day trip to Afghanistan. He will meet with Russian defense officials at a stopover in Moscow to discuss nuclear arm cuts. Pentagon aides styled Rumsfeld's swing through Central Asia as a chance to express appreciation to nations that have helped in the war against terrorism and the search for terrorist Osama bin Laden. "He will visit with some of our coalition partners in the region. It has been the strength of those coalitions, their willingness to participate, that has contributed so much to our success thus far. So he is also looking forward to that," said spokeswoman Victoria Clarke. Some analysts said the Pentagon hopes U.S. interest in Central Asia will be temporary and will remain grounded in the short-term tactical requirements of the war on terrorism. "I suspect the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff want to get out of there as quickly as possible," said Anthony Cordesman, a senior analyst with the CSIS. "We don't have any particular plans for permanent bases," Rumsfeld said Thursday. "It is too soon to decide or characterize exactly how long we would want to keep a capability in a particular country." But Baran said it may not be simple for the United States to just leave the region once short-term goals are accomplished. "All of the countries that are now cooperating with the United States have sought assurances that this will not just be about getting bin Laden and his top associates and pulling out," she said. "They now feel they have a commitment from the United States." That commitment extends to helping fight Islamic fundamentalism, providing assistance in securing borders, and even economic assistance, she said. Experts said the murky future of the war on terrorism made it difficult for U.S. military and political leaders to predict how long a presence will be necessary in Central Asia. That has caused Russia, Iran and others to express some concern that a new "Great Game" was afoot -- echoing the 19th-century imperialist struggle between Great Britain and Russia in Central Asia. The struggle led to several small wars. The most concerned are Russian nationalists opposed to President Vladimir Putin's policy of working with the United States in the war on terrorism and accepting U.S. troops in the region, experts said. But in background interviews, U.S. officials said concerns in Russia, Iran and China that America has longer-term interests in the region are groundless. "This is about winning the war on terrorism and aiding stability in the region, period," an official said. "The only way to win in the Great Game is not to play," Cordesman said. "The United States understands that, and Putin sees it, but the nationalists in Russia don't." Iran also is uneasy. On Monday, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami began his own swing through five of the 'Stans -- Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. "The Iranians are particularly concerned about the oil and gas in the Caspian area," an official said. But Cordesman said he doubted U.S. strategic thinking was built around gaining access to that energy supply. "That is 19th-century thinking," he said. "The fact is we compete on a global basis for oil regardless of where it comes from. And the oil and gas in that region won't be economically viable for years." Among the scenes making Russians nervous was the landing in former Soviet Kyrgyzstan of six U.S. Marine F/A-18 fighter bombers earlier this month, sent there as part of the allied coalition's Afghanistan campaign. Those aircraft, along with some French Mirage fighters, were at an air base near the capital, Bishkek. More than 1,500 soldiers from the United States and other coalition countries are based in Kyrgyzstan as part of one-year agreements with the republic's government. The size of the force there is expected to rise to about 3,500 in coming weeks. About 1,500 U.S. service personnel are deployed in Uzbekistan, at the country's Khanabad air base. Next door, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan also have offered bases or provided clearances for military flights over their territories. The Bush administration reached out to several Central Asian countries for bases and other assistance shortly after the September terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Some of those states had provided safe harbors for al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorists, and needed to be cut off as a retreat from Afghanistan, where those terrorists had congregated. In other places, the United States sought staging areas for aircraft, or backup bases in case a presence in Pakistan began to destabilize that government, experts said. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/1384159 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
