Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

As the US prepares to move into the Taiwan Strait on the opposite side of China the US has beefed up its base in Kyrgyzstan. Yes, we are threatening China.

Whereas the current bilateral defense guidelines do not explicitly mention the Taiwan Strait as a playground for US-Japan bilateral military cooperation, the revised guidelines are expected to do just that. So far, the geographical scope of possible US-Japan military cooperation in Asia has been referred to as "areas surrounding Japan even if all interested parties, including China, agreed a long time [ago] that Taiwan and the Taiwan Straits are very much part of that vague geographical concept.

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Planes, personnel, and equipment from the Hanabad airbase have been shifted to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

-Am




Karimov Breaks the Bridges, US Base Moves Out
By Mirza Cetinkaya
Published: Friday 17, 2005
zaman.com


The US base in Uzbekistan has gradually started to move out after bilateral relations have deteriorated over the Andijan unrest, during which 173 people died according to official estimates. Human rights organizations put the number of dead as about 1,000.

Planes, personnel, and equipment from the Hanabad airbase have been shifted to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan following Uzbek President Islam Karimov administration's "restrictive" attitude as retaliation against Washington's call for an independent international commission to investigate the unrest. The US base might be completely closed within the next months, it is claimed, following negotiations between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Kyrgyz officials about the crisis. Some observers argue that the US administration might "facilitate" a possible velvet revolution by further increasing the pressure on Tashkent.

Angry at Washington's attitude against the Andijan incidents, the Uzbek leader issued serious restrictions on operations of the US warplanes using the Hanabad airbase. While Karimov's directives have not allowed night-operations of the planes for the last week, day-flights have now also been reduced to a minimum level. Upon this, the US Defense Department shifted one part of the planes to the base in Kyrgyzstan and the other part to Afghanistan. Based on sources at the White House, The Washington Post announced NS-130 type planes were transported to Afghanistan's Bagram airport while S-17 type heavy cargo planes to Kyrgyzstan's Manas military base. Following the developments, Rice held meetings with Kyrgyz officials on Tuesday, June 14.

The Uzbek Defense Ministry, however, refrains to make any comments on the issue. In addition to Hanabad, the Tashkent Airport and Tirmiz city at Afghanistan border have played crucial roles in the US operation against the Taliban. Remaining as an abstainer as the Uzbek unrest emerged on May 13, the US faced criticisms in this direction. The Washington administration demanded from Tashkent the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the incidents specifically after the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) initiatives. US President George W. Bush noted that expectations for revolutions in the Caucasus and the Central Asia were intensified and spoke of new revolutions in the region. Government changes due to public revolts have happened so far in the former Soviet Republics Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan.





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