Not just here / U.S. needs to close bases in Central Asia

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05188/533888.stm

Russian president Vladimir V. Putin and Chinese president Hu Jintao sent a shot across the U.S. bow in Central Asia with a call July 5 by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at its summit for America and other Western states to set a timetable for withdrawal from their post-9/11 military bases in the region.

The SCO was established in 2001, prior to 9/11, with a secretariat in Beijing. It was the successor organization to the "Shanghai Five" group, founded in 1996. Uzbekistan was added to China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to form the SCO. India, Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia attended the just-completed SCO summit in Kazakhstan as observers.

After the 9/11 events, the United States established bases on the borders of Afghanistan to mount the U.S. response to the Al-Qaida attacks, based in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. There are currently U.S. bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan; German troops are based in Uzbekistan also and French troops in Tajikistan.

The SCO's position, spearheaded by the Chinese and Russian presidents, is that the United States has a sufficiently strong position in Afghanistan to no longer need the bases in neighboring countries. They oppose the installation of permanent U.S. military bases in the region in general. They do accept a U.S. presence in Afghanistan, given the recent history of that country and the American role in reconstruction and association with the current, Hamid Karzai government.

[Niccolo_Macchiavelli]

1. ha ha ha

They do accept a U.S. presence in Afghanistan, given the recent history of that country and the American role in reconstruction and association with the current, Hamid Karzai government.

It's your turn for a quagmire again (or two...or)