Clinton: Kyrgyzstan base closure decision 'regrettable'

[Coventina]

Source: CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Kyrgyzstan's decision to close a key U.S. military base is "regrettable," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, but it won't affect the U.S. military effort in nearby Afghanistan.

On Friday, Russia announced it would assist the U.S. in transporting nonmilitary cargo to Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The United States uses Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan as a route for troops and supplies into Afghanistan. Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced Tuesday that "all due procedures" were being initiated to close the base.

"It's regrettable that this is under consideration by the government of Kyrgyzstan, and we hope to have further discussions with them," Clinton told reporters Thursday after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. "But we will proceed in a very effective manner no matter what the outcome of the Kyrgyzstan government's deliberations might be."



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/05/clinton.kyrgyzstan/

[bemildred]

1. Nobody with a brain thought this "lily pad" stuff would last very long.

It will be good if we can extract ourselves from this mess without any "regrettable" incidents along the way.

[bemildred]

2. Kyrgyzstan's Decision to Close US Base 'Final'

Kyrgyzstan says its decision to shut down a U.S. military base is "final."

That word from a Kyrgyz government spokesman Friday contradicts earlier statements from both Kyrgyzstan and the United States that discussions about the base are continuing.

The Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan plays a major logistical role in supplying U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced plans to shut the base on Tuesday in Moscow, shortly after securing $2 billion in loans and aid from Russia.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-06-voa19.cfm

[cobalt1999]

3. Saves the military from having to learn to spell "Kyrgyzstan"

That's got to be worth something. :)

[Alhena]

4. Maybe we could send Borat as a good will ambassador

he's from Kazhakstan, but those countries are basically all the same. :)

[eilen]

15. They just shorten everything to acronyms like KRAPS

Kyrgyzstan
Retrieval
And
Procurement
Station

[struggle4progress]

5. FM: Kyrgyzstan not in talks with U.S. on air base

www.chinaview.cn 2009-02-06 22:57:19 Print

ALMATY, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Kyrgyz government is not engaged in negotiations with the U.S. on the closure of the Manas air base, Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev said Friday.

Sarbayev spoke at a press conference in the capital of Bishkek on the fate of the U.S. air base in Kyrgyz territory.

Adakhan Madumarov, Kyrgyzstan's National Security Council chief, told reporters that "at the current time there are no negotiations with the American side over the base."

The Kyrgyz government, Madumarov said, is not concerned that shutting the base will affect bilateral ties between Kyrgyzstan and the United States. He said his country will support and join in the international anti-terror campaign as usual ...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/06/content_10776680.htm

[struggle4progress]

6. Kyrgyzstan says no proposals from Pentagon on U.S. airbase - 2

ISHKEK, February 6 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov dismissed on Friday media reports that his country had received a set of new proposals from Washington concerning the closure of a U.S. airbase on its territory.

"I have neither met nor talked to representatives of the U.S. Embassy. I have received no new proposals," Chudinov said ...

The Kyrgyz government submitted on Wednesday a bill to gain the parliamentary approval needed to proceed with the closure of the base. The parliament, dominated by the pro-presidential Ak Zhol party, is expected to consider the bill next week.

Russian media, however, reported on Friday citing sources in Bishkek that the legislature had postponed the hearing on the base indefinitely, saying Bakiyev was deliberately trying to force the United States to make new proposals ...

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090206/120016679.html

[struggle4progress]

7. Tajikistan ready to help US with Afghanistan supplies

DUSHANBE (AFP) — Tajikistan said Friday it was ready to allow US and NATO supplies for Afghanistan to transit across its territory, after neighbouring Kyrgyzstan ordered the closure of a vital US airbase.

The decision by the Kyrgyz government to shut down the Manas airbase has troubled Washington, which had used the facility as a vital route for flying in supplies for coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon said after meeting the US ambassador that his country was ready to allow supplies including construction materials, medicines, fuel and water to transit across its soil by road ...

He said the supplies would be of a non-military nature and should be not just for the benefit of coalition forces ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5go5o8hw5rGby8gmHANLOOGEK4cWg

[bemildred]

8. Maybe we should talk to Iran?

It sounds like all the military supplies are going to have to go through Pakistan.

[Alhena]

9. I read somewhere that we are in fact discussing this with Iran

[struggle4progress]

11. Dunno for sure, but my guess would be that moving any military material through

Iran would require both the US and Iran to cover the cooperation with over-heated rhetoric

It's only been a few decades since the storming of the US embassy: that seems to have provided the Iranians with a good supply of documents on covert action in their country, and trust won't be restored until most of the people who can remember that are dead; on the US side, the real-politik crowd must still view the embassy take-over as an intolerance insult to the military preeminence of the oil-dependent US. So both countries contain constituencies likely to object. And there's a precedent: the rhetoric of the 1980s served in part to cover Reagan's missile deal with the Iranians

[bemildred]

12. Yeah, can't argue.

But there are a lot of common interests, once you get to looking at that sort of thing too.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeftHandPath]

13. Close them ALL.

US military bases should be... in the US.

We cant afford 78 bases around the world, Iraq, Afghanistan, TARP, stimulus.

I say cut military spending to the bone, end the wars, and put our hard earned tax dollars towards health care, education, and infrastructure.

End the Empire crap.

[martymar64]

18. Hear Hear!

And welcome, my anti-imperialist friend! :patriot:

[Mari333]

20. aaaaaaaamen!! nt

[New Dawn]

22. Exactly, we need to close down all 800+ them!

To hell with empire and the DLC hacks like Clinton that support it.

[sofa king]

14. But think of the money we'll save by not having to import vowels.

[Psephos]

16. Putin is using the Kyrgs as a cat's paw to swipe at Obama

Anyone who understands realpolitik gets that.

Soulless bastards like Putin don't stop probing; they push the sword in until they meet resistance.

[Abq_Sarah]

19. I suspsect you are correct

Putin doesn't have a clear idea of how President Obama will respond so he's exerting his influence in the former Soviet republics. The Kyrgyz don't know how much help to expect from us so they are covering their ass.

[New Dawn]

23. Turn off CNN.

The overwhelming majority of Kyrgyz do not want US military bases in their country.

[ohio2007]

17. Tajikistan looks like a better fit

http://www.rferl.org/Content/Tajikistan_Offers_To_Transit_NATO_Supplies_To_Afghanistan/1380459.html

[ohio2007]

21. Kyrgyz vote on US base held up by Russian aid ( calling Putins bluff )

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - Kyrgyzstan's parliament will delay a vote on expelling U.S. troops from an important base there until it receives $450 million in aid and loans promised by Russia, a lawmaker said Monday.

The base is a key staging platform for U.S. and coalition operations in Afghanistan.

"We have decided to wait until the Russians send the money," Communist Party deputy Absamat Masaliyev, a member of the parliament's coordinating body, told The Associated Press.Moscow has promised to deliver $450 million in aid and low-interest credit by April 30, but Masaliyev said he hoped Russian President Dimitry Medvedev would speed up the process.

Last week, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev shocked Washington when he announced closure of the base a few minutes after Russia promised to give Kyrgyzstan more than $2.1 billion in loans, aid and investment.




snip

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090209/D9687UI00.html

trust but
show me the $