After promising to evict the U.S. military from its territory, the government of Kyrgyzstan has reversed course: Its parliament yesterday ratified an agreement that will allow American forces to maintain access to Manas Air Base, a key supply hub for Afghanistan.
The deal follows months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, with Russia more or less openly pressuring the Kyrgyz government to close the base, and U.S. officials scrambling to keep access. So what happened? The Kyrgyz government got a rent increase, for starters. On background, Pentagon officials confirmed that the United States agreed to pay $60 million a year to use the base -- a substantial increase over the $17.4 million previously paid in annual rent. The base will be redesignated as a "transit center."
According to Deirdre Tynan of Eurasianet, the U.S. government also sweetened the deal by offering some $117 million to upgrade airport facilities, fund economic development, and pay for anti-narcotics programs and counter-terrorism training. The latter is an especially important point: Kyrgyz security forces said yesterday they killed five militants belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in a firefight in the southern town of Jalal-Abad. The IMU is linked to the Taliban, and there's concern that the Ferghana valley, which straddles parts of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, could become a haven for extremists.
The Kremlin is reportedly displeased with the whole deal, but speaking yesterday to reporters in Namibia, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev put a positive spin on things. "Our American partners asked us to offer support in the transit of cargos," he said, according to a transcript from Russia's Radio Mayak. "We are helping them. If Kyrgyzstan is ready to do this, this will only aid in the struggle with terrorism."
[PHOTO: U.S. Air Force]
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