Posted on 11/21/2005 7:35:39 PM PST by Dyaus Pitar
Moscow: The US airbase at Khanabad in Uzbekistan was closed after the last US warplane left the airbase, ending four years of the facility.
A US embassy official in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, confirmed the airbase's closure, adding that the last US warplane left the base at 1540 hrs local time yesterday. A US colonel presented a certificate of appreciation and a US flag to an Uzbek official, Russian news agencies reported quoting the Uzbek Defence Ministry's press service.
The Khanabad airbase was set up in 2001 to support the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. More than 1,500 US soldiers were stationed at the base.
Uzbekistan had asked the US to withdraw its military contingent from Khanabad, in July, in the wake of the Andizhan riots.
(Excerpt) Read more at india-defence.com ...
Not a good thing. That base allowed projection into all of Central Asia... China, Iran, Russia.
I suppose India is proving a good enough ally, and of course Iraq too. Maybe it was unnecessary.
Unfortunate. It was the good Putin who let us use it earlier, and more recently it was the increasingly unfriendly Putin who kicked us out.
The "drinky girls" are in tears.
Uzbekistan has been quite the abuser of the civil rights of it's people. It may have been handy, but it's probably for the better that we're not in bed with such a corrupt government....no more looking the other way.
I always see that Uzbekistan was a temporary base. The US is actually having a freer hand now that you don't need to get "political goodwill" from Islam Karimov so that you can plot a freer course of action.
Well, at least we had it for four years.
I don't think it's much about Putin. Mr. Islam Karimov is prez of Uzbek; the guy's a real fruitcake -- has written his own scriptures and everything (to make up for gaps in the Bible and the kornran); and he makes all the schoolkids memorize it. Yeah. This article says the legislature called for our exit, anyway.
MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax) - State Duma international affairs committee chairman Konstantin Kosachyov said that the closure of the U.S. Khanabad air base may prompt Uzbekistan to join certain CIS organizations.
"A new phase in relations between Uzbekistan and Russia, which may prompt Uzbekistan to enter certain integration structures on post-Soviet soil is one of the results of the closure of the American military base in Khanabad," Kosachyov told Interfax on Monday.
The deputy said he expects the base's withdrawal to help "Uzbekistan get rid of the illusion that closer ties with the U.S. could help resolve internal problems."
It is clear that the United States proved unready to "ignore what they view as inappropriate steps by Uzbek President Islam Karimov's regime with regard to the country's population. But they might have initially planned to use their military presence to influence him," he said.
Uzbekistan did not choose to sacrifice its own sovereignty "either to support the interests of the world anti-terrorist coalition or earn money for its own needs," Kosachyov said.
What namby pamby pablum. We should be in bed with any government that serves out national interest. Our presence the Uzbekistan was useful in the past, and could well be useful in the future.
You act as if Uzbek being corrupt will corrupt us...I prefer to think contact with the US military will civilize the Uzbeks.
It's happening in Iraq......don't know where your coming from?
I agree with Highlander. I think the powers that be in Washington made a cold calculation - that Uzbekistan's gov't is tottering and doomed to failure in the mid-term. This way, when a poputlar uprising sweeps those dregs away, Putin (who's stepping into the vacuum) is going to look bad and we're going to be invited back in by a popular government.
"I prefer to think that contact with the U.S. military will civilize the Uzbeks".
I could not agree more. Islam Karimov is a dictator. The Karshi-Khanabad airbase was a window on the West for the thousands of Uzbeks who worked there. When I was there I knew many who were grateful for the U.S.-provided income, if nothing else, and something else about us must have rubbed off as well. No Uzbek I spoke to admired Karimov and they felt free to say so while we were there and thought U.S. forces would be there for quite some time, as did I.
It could have been a beautiful friendship but for our own stupid arrogant U.S. State Department. We had Karimov eating out of our hand until this year. Yes, he's an SOB but for a while he was our SOB. FU, Jimmy Carter!
I'm not suggesting that Karimov's corruption will rub off on the US, but the dirt from it might. It seems likely that he might fall fairly soon and it wouldn't do to be too closely associated with yet another tin pot dictator when we're in the middle of trying to spread democracy throughout the world. Hard to be a good example when we have the filth of dictators about us...plus, we have other bases in the area, so we could afford to lose this one. Maybe after he falls we can connect up with the people of Uzbekistan again.
A US colonel presented a certificate of appreciation ...
Suitable for framing I presume.
The agreement Bush made with Putin the fall of 2001 to use the base in Uzbekistan was that it would be very temporary. It was used as a staging base to launch the raid on Afghanistan. Logistics demanded this base, and Bush agreed that we would not be there for an extended amount of time.
In return for working to stop arms shipments out of Georgia, and for the short stay in Uzbekistan, we got intelligence from the Russians, and access to the Northern Alliance.
Point being, Putin played a key role in our overthrowing of the Taliban.
We are in bed with some other corrupt governments and looking the other way. Big deal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.