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The story of yesterday's parliamentary vote in Kyrgyzstan to annul the lease of the U.S. air base there included an intriguing subplot: the presence of ex-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Bishkek. Officially, he was there on the business of the Rumsfeld Foundation, a group that offers short-term fellowships to young scholars from Central Asia and the Caucasus to study in Washington, D.C. And the timing of the visit, at the same time as the parliamentary vote, was just a coincidence. But as anyone following Central Asian politics knows, there is no such thing as coincidence. And the Kyrgyzstan...

The violence unleashed in Kyrgyzstan is being spun as ethnic rioting. The reality is a good deal more complex, and the blame can be laid directly at Russia's door. Russia's coup against the Bakiyev government which took power in the Tulip Revolution leveraged Uzbek separatists in the Osh Province to suppress Kyrgiz nationalist supporters of Bakiyev. Russia had been trying for a while to force out Manas Air Base, a US air force base that serves as a vital link to US forces in Afghanistan. Russia tolerated Bakiyev, so long as he was against the US base. But once Bakiyev...

One of Kyrgyzstan’s top defense officials told Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Tuesday that a crucial United States air base here should have “no military mission” when its lease expires a little more than two years from now. The request creates a potential hurdle to American plans to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014. Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. The base, officially called a transit center, is at the Manas airport close to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, and has been a vital hub for troops and matériel moving in and out...

4/30/2010 - TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) -- Airmen from the Transit Center at Manas helped disabled children at a Kyrgyz children's center learn to sign, draw and study during a visit April 27. Some of the children have autism, Down syndrome, and cerebral palsy; some are just physically handicapped, said Sam Duechenbi, a German translator for the Nadjeshda Children's Center, who met with Airmen during their visit. Some board at Nadjeshda; some go home to their parents at night. But they all benefit from the myriad therapy techniques provided by the children's center, he added. "Many Kyrgyz people...

The US military has suspended troop flights out of its base in Kyrgyzstan and will instead transport forces to and from Afghanistan via Kuwait, military officials said Friday. Amid political upheaval in the strategic Central Asian nation, US commanders at the Manas air base decided late Friday "to temporarily divert military passenger transport flights," Major John Redfield, a spokesman for US Central Command, said in an email. Decisions on continuing other military flights "will be made on a case-by-case basis," he said. The suspension came after the Americans spotted armored vehicles on the civilian side of the airport, a defense...

<p>BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyzstan's self-proclaimed new leaders said on Thursday that Russia had helped to oust President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, but they appeared to differ on how to deal with a U.S. air base (Manas) that has irritated Moscow.</p> <p>Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister now heading the interim government, said there were no plans yet to review the lease agreement for the Manas air base, which runs out in July. She said her government would meet U.S. diplomats for talks in Bishkek.</p>

China is becoming concerned by the increased presence of the United States in Afghanistan and is complaining about the U.S. lease renewal at the Manas Air Base in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, suggesting that these activities are part of an overall containment effort against China, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The complaint comes at the same time Chinese officials have expressed alarm over what they view as a growing alliance between the U.S. and India, which they perceive as designed to alter the Asian strategic balance in what Beijing always has regarded as its sphere of influence.

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2009 – The Kyrgyz parliament today ratified an agreement between the United States and Kyrgyzstan to extend U.S. access to Manas Air Base, a key logistics hub that supplies troops in Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed today. The agreement must now go to Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev for signature. “It’s not a done deal until the president signs it,” Whitman said. “Out of respect for their processes, we’ve been trying to give them the time and space to give this the consideration that it needs.” The agreement provides for a transit center at Manas International Airport,...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – The Kyrgyz parliament is expected to vote in the coming days on agreements reached between the United States and Kyrgyzstan governments to extend U.S. access to Manas Air Base, a logistics hub that supplies troops in Afghanistan, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed today. While emphasizing that the United States is “not counting our chickens before they are hatched,” Morrell expressed hope that the deal will go through. If ratified, the agreements would provide for a transit center at Manas International Airport, operated by the United States, to provide logistical support to coalition forces in...

CAIRO, Egypt -- A Kyrgyz deal with the United States to keep a U.S. air base open was agreed with Russia, a Kremlin official said Thursday. "We support all steps aimed at stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan," said the official accompanying President Dmitry Medvedev in Egypt. But Kommersant quoted an unidentified Russian diplomat as saying Moscow felt that it had been tricked by Kyrgyzstan over the base and would make an "adequate response" to the deal. The United States has agreed to pay $180 million to keep open the Manas air base after haggling with Kyrgyzstan since February, when the...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia was tricked by Kyrgyzstan over a deal with the United States to keep open a key air base in Central Asia, a Russian diplomat was quoted as saying by local media on Wednesday. ... The Kommersant newspaper quoted an unidentified Russian diplomat as saying Moscow viewed the U.S. move as a trick and that Russia would soon make an "adequate response" to the deal.

Kyrgyzstan has reversed a Russian order to evict the US military from an airbase close to Afghanistan in a significant foreign policy victory for Barack Obama. After winning major financial concessions from Washington, the Kyrgyz government said it had agreed to allow the US Air Force to retain control of the Manas Airbase for at least one more year. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev The move, which comes a fortnight before Mr Obama visits Moscow, was welcomed by the United States, which has emphasised the base's importance in the campaign to defeat the Taliban. "We applaud the decision by the Kyrgyz Republic...

Kyrgyzstan has reversed a Russian order to evict the US military from an airbase close to Afghanistan in a significant foreign policy victory for Barack Obama. After winning major financial concessions from Washington, the Kyrgyz government said it had agreed to allow the US Air Force to retain control of the Manas Airbase for at least one more year. The move, which comes a fortnight before Mr Obama visits Moscow, was welcomed by the United States, which has emphasised the base's importance in the campaign to defeat the Taliban.

The U.S. military has now started preparing to leave the Manas base in Bishkek as part of its anticipated eviction, according to Colonel Christopher Bence, the newly-appointed commander of the airbase. The United States military will vacate Manas by August 18, as the Kyrgyz regime first officially demanded in February. A KC-135 of U.S Air Force takes off from Manas U.S. air base near Bishkek Despite these latest developments, the Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev might still overturn his decision to shut the base. The final verdict is contingent on a possible agreement between the U.S. President Barack Obama and his...

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2009 – The United States could be nearing a deal with the Kyrgyzstan government to extend U.S. access to Manas Air Base, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters today. Morrell reported progress in negotiations he called “reason for hope” about reversing Kyrgyzstan’s previous decision regarding the base. Kyrgyzstan’s foreign ministry notified the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek in February that it had six months to leave Manas, a major logistical and refueling center that supports troops in Afghanistan, About 15,000 troops and 500 tons of cargo move through the base every month. The decision was to end...

3/20/2009 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) -- The 376th Air Expeditionary Wing's fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers here delivers more than fuel to the fight in Afghanistan these days as it is revolutionizing the way war is fought by serving as a data network relay high above the battlefield. At first glance, the cluster of cases mounted in the back of Manas Air Base's 50-year-old KC-135s does not look very revolutionary, but the innovative system and its use on a refueling tanker employs the Roll-On-Beyond-Line-Of-Sight-Enhancement, or ROBE, system. Developed by Northrop Grumman in 2003, ROBE is a communication system that...

Last month, the Kremlin dangled $2 billion in economic aid to prod Kyrgyz leaders to shut down Manas, the air base the U.S. uses to shuttle troops into and out of Afghanistan and refuel military aircraft. The response from Bishkek was swift. On Feb. 19, the Kyrgyz parliament gave the U.S. 180 days to leave Manas. .... At a time when the world's financial crisis has most countries hunkering down, Russia is parlaying the global meltdown into a lever for expanding its influence in Central Asia and other former Soviet republics that the Kremlin regards as its "near abroad." The...

3/9/2009 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) -- Loaded with boxes filled with stuffed animals, snacks and 10 shiny new faucets, Manas Air Base Airmen made a visit to Bishkek's National Center of Oncology, or Children's Cancer Center. Dozens of smiling children, afflicted with life threatening cancer illnesses, waved through the curtained windows of their hospital rooms as the Manas Air Base Outreach Society volunteers pulled up to the center. "I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I visited the children the first time," said Airman 1st Class Adam McDonough, assigned to the 376th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron. "It...

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyzstan's president signed a bill Friday to close a key U.S. air base used to stage military operations in Afghanistan, the final step before authorities issue a 180-day eviction order. Kurmanbek Bakiyev's signing of the legislation — which Washington suspects Russia of backing — will lead to the United States being given 180 days to vacate the Manas air base, a transit point for 15,000 troops and 500 tons of cargo each month to and from Afghanistan.

The Biden prophecy has come to pass. Our wacky veep, momentarily inspired, had predicted last October that "it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama." Biden probably had in mind an eve-of-the-apocalypse drama like the Cuban Missile Crisis. Instead, Obama's challenges have come in smaller bites. Some are deliberate threats to U.S. interests, others mere probes to ascertain whether the new president has any spine. Preliminary X-rays aren't encouraging. Consider the long list of brazen Russian provocations: (a) Pressuring Kyrgyzstan to shut down the U.S. air base in Manas, an absolutely crucial NATO conduit into Afghanistan....