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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...

The Russian and American governments are discussing a bilateral government deal, under which Russian state-controlled oil companies Rosneft and Gazpromneft would supply kerosene directly to the Manas Transit Centre, a crucial logistics hub for the war in Afghanistan. "Ultimately it's in the security interests of Russia for the US to be using this base for its operations in Afghanistan, but under a very, very strict mandate," said Ana Jelenkovic, Central Asia analyst at Eurasia Group. "If Russia is able to monitor the destination of the fuel, it limits the ability of the US to stay there in the base long-term....

Governments with foreign military bases tend to shy away from publicity about their colonial outposts, and recent events in the post-Soviet space shine an unwelcome spotlight on US and Russian military establishments The US Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan and Russia’s lease extension on Ukraine’s historic port of Sevastopol are presently earning much unwanted attention, which is serving to agitate the local populations in both countries. Furthermore, Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenko, who provided sanctuary to ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has used the opportunity to berate Russia for failing to pay for its early warning missile base near Baranavichy and...

The United States does not plan a lasting military presence in Kyrgyzstan, U.S. Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Michael McFaul told a Tuesday press conference in Bishkek. The transit center located on the premises of the Bishkek Manas Airport supports the coalition operations in Afghanistan and helps fight terrorism, which endangers not only the United States but also Russia and Kyrgyzstan, McFaul said, adding that the center was beneficial for all. One should not view the Kyrgyz interim government as pro-Russian or pro-American, McFaul said. As for the scandal around the Kyrgyz delivery of fuel and...

Although the United States has signed (last July) an agreement with Russia that allows 4,500 air transports a year to cross Russian territory on their way to Afghanistan, the route is only being used at the rate of about 700 flights a year. Why isn't the full capacity being used? Partly because of a squabble among Russian bureaucrats. Although the agreement waived transit fees, Russian aviation officials insisted some kind of fee had to be paid. It took months to sort that out. And there are still issues with some Russian ministries over how the flights should proceed. But there...

Kyrgyzstan's interim government said it will extend the U.S. lease of a key air base by another year. "Kyrgyzstan is extending by one year the validity of the agreement with the United States over the Manas transit center," Omurbek Tekebayev, the deputy leader of the opposition, was quoted as saying by BBC News. Washington is using the air base in Manas to fly troops and equipment in and out of Afghanistan. After the bloody unrest that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev last week, the U.S. government had been worried that the opposition would throw the Americans out. The move to keep...

Kyrgyzstan may be a landlocked country with a population of less than 5.5 million, but it still looms large in the regional calculations of China, Russia and the United States. The Kyrgyz Republic is the only country to host both a Russian and a US military base. The Russian base at Kant symbolises Moscow’s preeminent security role in the region, while the US base at Manas plays a vital role in sustaining NATO military operations in Afghanistan. And Kyrgyzstan also borders Xinjiang, prompting concerns among Chinese policymakers over infiltration by terrorists and narcotics smuggling into this sensitive province as well...

Kyrgyzstan's interim government Sunday promised continued U.S. access to an airbase outside Bishkek critical to supporting military operations in Afghanistan. Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the interim government formed in last week's violent uprising, said her administration would follow all previous U.S.-Kyrgyzstan agreements on use of the airbase, which some 50,000 coalition troops bound for Afghanistan passed through in March, The Financial Times reported Sunday.

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...

The U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan has resumed normal operations after cutting back flights because of violent unrest nearby in the capital Bishkek, a spokesman said on Friday. Flights from the Manas base, which support military operations in Afghanistan, were suspended during clashes that killed at least 75 people and prompted the president to flee Bishkek, the NATO-led force in Afghanistan said on Thursday. Manas spokesman Major Rickardo Bodden told Reuters on Friday that the base was again working normally. "It resumed normal operations today. We curtailed operations for a short period of time," he said. Since Wednesday, the worst...

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,...

MOSCOW, March 26 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyzstan is not considering the possibility of U.S. troops returning to the Manas airbase in the north of the country, the Kyrgyz foreign minister said on Thursday. Kyrgyzstan has officially informed Washington of the termination of the agreement on a U.S. military presence at the Manas airbase and has given it 180 days to withdraw some 1,200 personnel, aircraft and other equipment. "We are currently not considering the return of the U.S. [troops] to the base," Kadyrbek Sarbayev said at a news conference in Moscow. Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed on February 20 a...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2009 – The United States hopes to continue operations at Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan, but would use other means to support troops in Afghanistan if the Kyrgyz government goes through with plans to close it, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. Neither the State Department nor the Defense Department has received official word that Kyrgyzstan plans to discontinue its three-year arrangement with the United States, Whitman told Pentagon reporters. But Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev reportedly announced plans to close the base yesterday after meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow. News reports said Medvedev...