Kyrgyzstan expells US Air Force base | The Vineyard of the Saker

Al-Manar reports: Kyrgyzstan said Friday its decision to shut a U.S. air base was final, dealing a blow to Washington’s efforts to retain what has been a major staging post for US occupation forces fighting in Afghanistan.

Thursday, the United States said it was still in talks with Kyrgyzstan about keeping the Manas base in the mainly Muslim, impoverished former Soviet republic and traditional Russian ally. “The decision has been made,” said Kyrgyz government spokesman Aibek Sultangaziyev. “The U.S. embassy and the (Kyrgyz) Foreign Ministry are exchanging opinions on this, but there are no discussions on keeping the base.”

Kyrgyzstan’s stance has set a tough challenge for new U.S. President Barack Obama, who plans to send additional troops to Afghanistan to try and boost NATO efforts to defeat Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents.

The United States, also seeking to reinforce supply routes to Afghanistan that bypass Pakistan where convoys face security risks, says it is still hopeful the base can be retained. “We’re still very much engaged,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced the closure of the base earlier this week after securing more than $2 billion in financial aid and credit from Russia during talks in Moscow.

Russia, irked by the U.S. military presence in Kyrgyzstan which it regards as part of its strategic sphere of interest, has long exerted pressure on the small, landlocked and mountainous Central Asian country to evict the U.S. forces.

NATO says it is concerned about Russia’s possible involvement in the Kyrgyz decision. Moscow, which operates its own military base in Kyrgyzstan, has strongly denied any link between its aid package and the move to shut Manas.

Asked if Washington had made any additional offers over the base, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said: “We have not received any proposals.” He says Kyrgyzstan wants to shut the base because it disagrees with U.S. methods in Afghanistan.

A Western diplomatic source said Thursday the United States was close to a deal with Kyrgyzstan’s neighbor Uzbekistan that would allow Washington to open a new supply route for its troops in Afghanistan.

alibi on February 07, 2009 · at 2:06 pm EST/EDT

It’s interesting how the US diplomacy manage to cope with an opposition.

The US have enjoyed the open door policy in Central Asia since Sep 11 due to Russian and personally Putin’s support. Putin was the one who had called Bush and offered help. The Russians let the US set up military bases in Kirgizia and Uzbekistan. The US still has a corridor through Russian airspace to deliver military supply to Afghanistan. It were Russian trained and equipped troops who drove Taliban from Kabul. Russia provided unlimited intel support for the States, and according to Pentagon officials the Russians have done more for the US in Afghanistan than all NATO allies combined.

Obviously it all was taken for granted.

Having lived for quite a while without having any sort of opposition in the world the US really have miscalculated it’s own capability and importance.

They could have had Putin as one of their best ally along with majority of Russians.

And what did they do?

And now, when Russia decided that enough was enough the US got really confused.

The US obviously has no clue as to what it’s suppose to do with somebody who acts so out of line and can‘t be just bombed and hanged like Saddam, or bombed and killed like Milosevic.

They don’t seem to have any sound policy as to how to deal with opposition when the opposition can’t be intimidated, bought or just eliminated.

They’ve done all their best threatening Putin with all sort of things from isolation to a scary “adequate response” whatever it was.

Didn’t work. And the US keeps loosing it’s ground. Now it’s Kirgizia.

What’s next?