Rumsfeld Downplays Uzbek Base's Importance

[Eugene]

Rumsfeld Downplays Uzbek Base's Importance


Monday July 25, 2005 8:16 PM

AP Photo LON830

By ROBERT BURNS

AP Military Writer

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - The U.S. military could sustain its
operations in Afghanistan even if it lost access to a key air base
in neighboring Uzbekistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said
Monday at the outset of a three-day tour of the region.

<snip>

The Uzbek government has raised doubt about continued U.S. access to
Karshi-Khanabad air base, which has been used as a staging point for
operations in Afghanistan since the start of the war in October 2001.

<snip>

Some nongovernment experts on Central Asia blame the State
Department for not taking the initiative to develop a regional
policy that assures Kyrgyzstan and others in the area that the
United States' interest in the region goes beyond fighting terrorists
in Afghanistan.

S. Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
at Johns Hopkins University, said in a telephone interview Friday
that the administration needs to go beyond the hastily arranged
partnership it made with these countries - most of them former Soviet
republics - in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.

"The fact is, since our big initiative (after 9/11) we've basically
treated these people with the back of our hand," Starr said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5165849,00.html

[jody]

1. If the base is not important, then leave. n/t