US Holds Onto Air Base in Former Soviet Republic
Manas Base in Kyrgyzstan Vital to NATO’s Afghan War
Jun 30, 2009
The United States has been operating out of the tiny country of Kyrgyzstan, tucked between China and the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, since the start of the conflict in Afghanistan in 2001. Last February, Kyrgyzstan kicked the U.S. out after Russia announced more than $2 billion in economic aid to Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was in Russia at the time, and with the Russian president next to him, announced the eviction of the U.S. Russia denied any link between the aid to Kyrgyzstan and the Kyrgyz decision to evict the U.S.
Russia Considers the West Encroaching on Russia’s Traditional Sphere of Influence
A resurgent Russia is highly suspicious of an American military base in its backyard and bristles at “meddling” by NATO. Russia also maintains a military base in Kyrgyzstan, as it does in Georgia, Ukraine and the other former Soviet republicss in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
Since being kicked out of a base in neighboring Uzbekistan in 2005, the only remaining presence that the U.S. has in Asia is at the Manas installation in Kyrgyzstan. It remains a crucial supply hub for the expanding war in Afghanistan, particularly with the surge of 20,000 additional troops. A primary role of the Manas base has been housing the refueling tanker planes responsible for keeping NATO jets circling the skies over Afghanistan. It is also an important evacuation point.
Under a United Nations mandate coalition forces have used the Manas air base to provide logistical support and humanitarian assistance as part of counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan since December 2001. Kyrgyzstan has demanded higher payments and got them after threatening to expel U.S. forces in 2005 and 2006.
New Manas Deal Ahead of Obama-Medvedev Summit
The quiet negotiations paid off two weeks before the Moscow Summit. On June 25, 2009 the Kyrgyz Jogorku Kenesh, or parliament, voted unanimously to approve a new agreement with the U.S. on the Manas air base, with minor restrictions.
The vote was 75 to zero with five abstentions in the 90-seat Jogorku Kenesh. Only the Communist Party openly opposed ratification of the agreement.
Under the new deal Kyrgyzstan will get more than three times the previous rent of $17.4 million; it now receives $60 million annually. There is also $7 million to handle the plane traffic with new runway parking slots and storage areas; $30 million for navigation systems; more than $20 million to fight drug trafficking; another $20 million to create Kyrgyz-U.S. economic development; and $10 million for anti-terrorism.
Manas Air Base Name Change Just Window Dressing
The status of the base as a military installation will end in August and it will officially become a logistics center for cargo headed to Afghanistan, to be called the Center for Transit Shipments. However, the new agreement really just calls for minor differences in the way American forces operate. The heavy flight traffic, ferrying 15,000 troops and 500 tons of cargo per month, will continue.
Possible Détente in U.S-Russian Relations Ahead of Moscow Summit
The Kremlin has been cozying up to the Obama Administration in the run-up to the July Moscow Summit. The Russians may have decided it is more in their interests to cooperate with Obama rather than continuing the confrontation characterized by relations with the Bush White House.
Either way there was a split between government insiders and the official reaction. Publicly Russian officials had no objections to the Manas agreement. The news came as Russian President Medvedev was in Africa where he told reporters that all nations wanted the U.S. to succeed in Afghanistan.
However, some in Moscow apparently did not greet the news so positively. Russian newspapers have reported that the deal came as an unwelcome surprise to the Russian Foreign Ministry. en.rian.ru/papers/20090624/155341789.html
The Ministry said there would be a proportionate response to the Kyrgyz decision. There have been rumblings that the million Kyrgyz migrant workers in Russia could find renewing visas difficult, similar to the thousands of Georgian migrants deported in 2006. Some officials have also hinted that some of the promised aid may not be delivered.
Still others say the Kyrgyz decision should have been expected. They only ask what compromises the U.S. will make and what Russia will get in return.www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html
Did U.S. Give Concessions to Russia for Manas Air Base?
The deal on the Manas base came well before U.S. President Barack Obama sits down with Russian President Medvedev at the Moscow Summit and the signing of agreements on U.S. and Russian cooperation. But there has been speculation that Washington will get the Kremlin to sign off on the Manas air base by promising to give up something the Russians want. The Obama Administration could promise to abandon the Bush Administration’s plans for missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. Or the White House could acquiesce on Russia’s objections to expanding NATO membership to Ukraine and Georgia.
President Bakiyev Remains Firmly in Control
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, expected to win re-election July 23, is the big winner for the moment; there could be a post-Moscow Summit fallout in relations between Bishkek and Moscow. He was lobbied by not only President Obama with promises of economic aid, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai sat down with Bakiyev in June to talk about the risks posed by the Taliban; and Turkish President Abdullah Gul promised millions in investments as a reward for allowing the U.S. to stay at the Manas air base.
The announcement that the U.S. will remain in Kyrgyzstan is no great surprise, but Bakiyev was not expected to get both aid from Russia and more money from the U.S. He played a high-stakes game with great powers over geopolitical brinkmanship and won. The Russians get to claim legitimacy from an American president seeking acceptance abroad. And the State Department, by negotiating with the Kremlin on a host of issues, may have finally realized that the road to Bishkek goes through Moscow.
