AUG. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United States denied it was discussing setting up a base in Uzbekistan after media reports said a deal was imminent. The US pulled out of its base outside Bishkek this year and speculation has been rising that it may be looking to set up a new Central Asia hub.
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(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)
MAY 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Controversy has always stalked the US air base outside Bishkek and even as it wrapped up its mission in Kyrgyzstan on June 3 scandal hovered.
The military facility’s closing ceremony came only a few days after a local court sentenced one of its contractors to four years in jail on hooliganism charges.
Brandon Cornelius, a service manager at the so-called Manas Transit Center, was arrested in the early hours of March 9 after a drunken pursuit of a 22-year old girl. Although the girl did not push through sexual harassment charges, Cornelius allegedly attacked the arresting police officers.
The court verdict was a typically inglorious footnote to the Transit Center, which began life in 2001 as a major logistical hub for the US-led war in Afghanistan but has grown increasingly unpopular with locals.
In 2006, US soldier Zachary Hatfield shot a Kyrgyz man. Hatfield said he was threatened with a knife. He was transferred back to the United States, escaping punishment.
Although estimates of the Transit Center’s annual contribution to the local economy exceed $200 million, many Kyrgyz will be happy to see the back of US soldiers and hard-drinking defence contractors. A February 2014 poll backed by Gallup found 59% of Kyrgyz respondents viewed the Transit Center negatively, compared to 18% positively.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
MAY 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia views Central Asia as an imminent conflict zone and has bolstered operations at its military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said at the third Moscow Conference on International Security.
The Kant air base outside Bishkek, he said, in particular had seen a significant increase in manpower and airpower in the past couple of years.
This coincides with the US drawdown from its own airbase outside Bishkek as operations to Afghanistan have slowed.
But neither Moscow’s airbase at Kant nor its military installation outside Dushanbe, Tajikistan, both operating under the auspices of the Russia-led regional security group the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), have played any major role in ensuring Central Asian stability. During revolution and ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan in 2010, as well as clashes between pro and anti-government forces in Tajikistan’s east in 2012, the Russians were nowhere to be seen.
Mr Shoigu’s comments could be interpreted as a sign that Moscow is readying to become a regional security guarantor now that Washington is exiting the region.
That said, the comments may also just be another round of posturing by Russia in its so-called near abroad.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — For visitors to Kyrgyzstan’s main civilian airport, Manas, catching sight of US warplanes taking off in the distance used to be part of arriving in Bishkek. Not anymore.
As the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan continues these glimpses of the US military have become increasingly rare. It is quitting its airbase next to Manas civilian airport from where it has flown missions to Afghanistan since 2001.
Given Russian opposition to the facility, Kyrgyzstan’s leaders had few choices but to call time on the co-called Transit Center.
And this seems to suit locals.
“I have no problem with America but I don’t think we needed this base,” said Askar Bolotbayev, a Bishkek resident.
“It doesn’t provide us with electricity, it isn’t something we can export. We somehow survived before it and we will survive after it, too.”
Yet, with the centre worth roughly $200m to the anaemic Kyrgyz economy, Kyrgyzstan is keen to fill a hole by turning their main airport into something bigger and better.
Dair Tokobayev, an official at Manas airport, told local press that the government wanted to transform Manas into a regional transit hub.
But not without Russian backing, of course. Russian energy company Rosneft is reportedly considering buying a 51% stake in the airport.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The final US aerial re-fuelling tanker supporting military missions in Afghanistan took off from the Manas airbase outside Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the US military said. According to US data, re-fuelling tankers have flown 33,000 missions from Manas. The US military is quitting Manas this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
NOV. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will upgrade and strengthen its military base in Tajikistan to coincide with the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, media reported quoting Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister. Russia has said it is worried about the spread north of the Taliban once US-led forces leave Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
OCT. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will double the number of warplanes at its base at Kant outside Bishkek, media quoted Viktor Sevastyanov, a senior Russian air force commander, as saying. Earlier this month the US started withdrawing its forces from its own base in Kyrgyzstan. It will end operations at the Manas air base by mid-2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US military started withdrawing from the Manas airbase outside Bishkek. It has leased the base from the Kyrgyz government since 2001 and turned it into one of the biggest transit centres for forces flying to Afghanistan. The US has to complete its withdrawal from Manas by July 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s base in Tajikistan is essential for regional security Russian parliamentarian Sergei Naryshkin said on an official visit to Dushanbe. After a one year delay, Tajikistan’s parliament on Oct. 1 ratified a deal to extend by 30 years Russia’s lease on the base, its largest overseas operation.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
SEPT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hassan Rouhani’s presidency in Iran is still in its infancy but there are signs that relations with Azerbaijan are improving.
This is important because over the past couple of years ties between the two neighbours have worsened dramatically and have, at times, threatened to destabilise the region.
Azerbaijan has moved increasingly close to Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy, supplying it with oil and buying military kit. Last year Azerbaijan-Iran relations hit a nadir when a leaked report suggested that Israel had negotiated a deal to use Azerbaijan as a base for its warplanes if a war with Iran broke out.
Azerbaijan’s government denied the report but the diplomatic damage had already been done. A series of spy scandals on either side of the border also added to the increasingly toxic relations.
This appears to have changed with Mr Rouhani’s election victory on June 15 and inauguration as president on Aug. 3.
Reports said the number of people using a major border crossing between Iran and Azerbaijan has increased this year. Official visits between the two sides have also accelerated. On Sept. 18, the head of Iran’s border police was in Baku. There he said that Iran supported Azerbaijan’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh, the region of the South Caucasus it disputes ownership of with Armenia.
2013 is an election year for both Azerbaijan and Iran and improved cross-border relations appears to be in the interests of both governments.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
