By BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA
The Associated Press
Saturday, June 2, 2007; 7:18 AM
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan -- When Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits next week, he'll find pressure from Russia and China, as well as some Kyrgyz officials, to close this Central Asian outpost of American military might.
The Manas Air Base was set up to support U.S. operations in nearby Afghanistan, but it is part of high-stakes contest for political influence being played out across a region with vast natural gas and oil reserves.
Small, poor and politically unstable, Kyrgyzstan is nevertheless being aggressively courted by the United States, Russia and China because of its strategic location. Russia also has an air base in this former Soviet republic of 5 million, part of a regional security treaty.
But tensions surrounding the air base have hurt Washington's efforts to gain favor here. There have been disputes over payments, a fatal shooting and the mysterious reported kidnapping of an American.
The Kyrgyz parliament has urged the government to evict the Manas base, a position backed by Russia.
While analysts don't expect that to happen soon, many Kyrgyz say they would not miss the 1,000 U.S. military personnel stationed at Manas, despite the generous salaries paid to locals employed there.
"Their mentality is totally different," said Lyudmila Fomina, a retired economist from Bishkek. "Russia is closer. We marry one another, we share one culture, language."
Manas is one of two major U.S. bases set up in Central Asia after the September 2001 terror attacks. Uzbekistan was the main hub for American military operations in Afghanistan until U.S. troops were kicked out in 2005 after Washington condemned a bloody government crackdown that human rights groups say killed hundreds of civilians.
Earlier that year, Russia and China joined Central Asian nations in calling for the closure of both bases.
Russia has a historical edge in the region, where it ruled under czars and commissars. Russian is still the lingua franca here, and many older people were educated in Russian universities or served with Russians in the Soviet armed forces. Many people have relatives living and working in Russia.
In May, the Kremlin won a critical round in the competition for Central Asian energy supplies. President Vladimir Putin signed a deal with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to build a new pipeline that would route more natural gas to Europe through Russian pipelines.
Russia's near monopoly on the transport of Central Asian gas is a major concern to Europe and the U.S.
For its part, China is a huge potential customer for Central Asia, due its growing thirst for fossil fuels.
China has launched or proposed billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects _ including a vast highway system, pipelines, a hydroelectric dam and even a fiber optic network _ that would tie Central Asia more closely to its neighbor to the East.
Washington, meanwhile, seems uncertain whether to court the region's authoritarian rulers or chastise them for human rights violations. Just as important, perhaps, the U.S. represents an alien culture with unfamiliar morals and standards of behavior.
When Kyrgyzstan's only Tu-154 passenger airliner _ which doubled as the president's personal jet _ was damaged in a collision with a taxiing U.S. military tanker at Manas in September, the U.S. blamed Kyrgyz air traffic controllers, while the government blamed the U.S. tanker crew. Putin, sensing an opportunity, stepped in and donated a new presidential plane.
Bagauddin Gasanov, who runs the fire company at Manas airport, which shares the field with the U.S. base, complained that Americans never accept the blame when something goes wrong. "They think because they are paying us dollars, they can do anything," he said.
The air base has often been a source of conflict, a situation Gates may have a hard time changing.
In December, a U.S. serviceman shot and killed a Kyrgyz driver at the base, allegedly after he threatened the airman with a knife. Co-workers of the slain man said U.S. airmen did not treat them with respect. Washington refused to let Kyrgyz authorities prosecute the American.
Then there was the Air Force officer based at Manas who vanished in September while on a shopping excursion. She reappeared three days later claiming she had been kidnapped.
Gulya Abdyldayeva, a 50-year-old teacher from Bishkek, noted that thousands of Kyrgyz depend for their survival on money sent to them by relatives working in Russia. She's not sure what the U.S. base provides.
"How long has it been here, two years? Is it of any use for us?" she asked. "All I hear about the base is that someone was killed there, that someone was shot."
The main reason Manas still exists, perhaps, is the revenue it generates for the Kyrgyz government. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev last year threatened to evict U.S. forces unless Washington agree to pay 10 times more for use of the base, $20 million to $200 million.
The United States eventually agreed to pay Kyrgyzstan $150 million in 2006, in the form of aid and rent.
© 2007 The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Saturday, June 2, 2007; 7:18 AM
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan -- When Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits next week, he'll find pressure from Russia and China, as well as some Kyrgyz officials, to close this Central Asian outpost of American military might.
The Manas Air Base was set up to support U.S. operations in nearby Afghanistan, but it is part of high-stakes contest for political influence being played out across a region with vast natural gas and oil reserves.
Small, poor and politically unstable, Kyrgyzstan is nevertheless being aggressively courted by the United States, Russia and China because of its strategic location. Russia also has an air base in this former Soviet republic of 5 million, part of a regional security treaty.
But tensions surrounding the air base have hurt Washington's efforts to gain favor here. There have been disputes over payments, a fatal shooting and the mysterious reported kidnapping of an American.
The Kyrgyz parliament has urged the government to evict the Manas base, a position backed by Russia.
While analysts don't expect that to happen soon, many Kyrgyz say they would not miss the 1,000 U.S. military personnel stationed at Manas, despite the generous salaries paid to locals employed there.
"Their mentality is totally different," said Lyudmila Fomina, a retired economist from Bishkek. "Russia is closer. We marry one another, we share one culture, language."
Manas is one of two major U.S. bases set up in Central Asia after the September 2001 terror attacks. Uzbekistan was the main hub for American military operations in Afghanistan until U.S. troops were kicked out in 2005 after Washington condemned a bloody government crackdown that human rights groups say killed hundreds of civilians.
Earlier that year, Russia and China joined Central Asian nations in calling for the closure of both bases.
Russia has a historical edge in the region, where it ruled under czars and commissars. Russian is still the lingua franca here, and many older people were educated in Russian universities or served with Russians in the Soviet armed forces. Many people have relatives living and working in Russia.
In May, the Kremlin won a critical round in the competition for Central Asian energy supplies. President Vladimir Putin signed a deal with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to build a new pipeline that would route more natural gas to Europe through Russian pipelines.
Russia's near monopoly on the transport of Central Asian gas is a major concern to Europe and the U.S.
For its part, China is a huge potential customer for Central Asia, due its growing thirst for fossil fuels.
China has launched or proposed billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects _ including a vast highway system, pipelines, a hydroelectric dam and even a fiber optic network _ that would tie Central Asia more closely to its neighbor to the East.
Washington, meanwhile, seems uncertain whether to court the region's authoritarian rulers or chastise them for human rights violations. Just as important, perhaps, the U.S. represents an alien culture with unfamiliar morals and standards of behavior.
When Kyrgyzstan's only Tu-154 passenger airliner _ which doubled as the president's personal jet _ was damaged in a collision with a taxiing U.S. military tanker at Manas in September, the U.S. blamed Kyrgyz air traffic controllers, while the government blamed the U.S. tanker crew. Putin, sensing an opportunity, stepped in and donated a new presidential plane.
Bagauddin Gasanov, who runs the fire company at Manas airport, which shares the field with the U.S. base, complained that Americans never accept the blame when something goes wrong. "They think because they are paying us dollars, they can do anything," he said.
The air base has often been a source of conflict, a situation Gates may have a hard time changing.
In December, a U.S. serviceman shot and killed a Kyrgyz driver at the base, allegedly after he threatened the airman with a knife. Co-workers of the slain man said U.S. airmen did not treat them with respect. Washington refused to let Kyrgyz authorities prosecute the American.
Then there was the Air Force officer based at Manas who vanished in September while on a shopping excursion. She reappeared three days later claiming she had been kidnapped.
Gulya Abdyldayeva, a 50-year-old teacher from Bishkek, noted that thousands of Kyrgyz depend for their survival on money sent to them by relatives working in Russia. She's not sure what the U.S. base provides.
"How long has it been here, two years? Is it of any use for us?" she asked. "All I hear about the base is that someone was killed there, that someone was shot."
The main reason Manas still exists, perhaps, is the revenue it generates for the Kyrgyz government. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev last year threatened to evict U.S. forces unless Washington agree to pay 10 times more for use of the base, $20 million to $200 million.
The United States eventually agreed to pay Kyrgyzstan $150 million in 2006, in the form of aid and rent.
© 2007 The Associated Press
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