Kyrgyzstan’s government submitted a draft bill to parliament yesterday that would close a US base that is key to the US military campaign in Afghanistan.
The move came a day after Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said the base would be shuttered and shortly after the Central Asian nation secured billions of dollars in loans and aid from Russia, which resents the US presence in a country that Moscow regards as part of its traditional sphere of influence.
The possibility poses a serious challenge to the new US administration and US President Barack Obama’s plan to send up to 30,000 more US forces into Afghanistan this year.
Earlier, the US embassy in Kyrgyzstan said the US had received no formal notification of the closure.
Talks were scheduled to continue on keeping the air base in the country, despite the Kyrgyz president’s announcement, the embassy said in a statement.
The government said the decision to order the closure of the Manas base was made because the base has fulfilled its purpose of supporting military actions in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, “state institutions have been created, a Constitution adopted, a president was elected, and government was formed. All the necessary conditions are in place for the stable functioning of a government in Afghanistan,” the statement said.
The Kyrgyz government also cited growing popular discontent with the US military presence among its motivations for the closure. It also criticized US obstruction of the investigation into the fatal shooting in December 2006 of a Kyrgyz truck driver by a US serviceman during a security check at the entrance to the air base.
Officials have not specified when the closure might take place, but the agreement under which the base was established in 2001 specifies that the US must be given 180 days notice.
The base, which is located with the Manas civilian airport near Kyrgyzstan’s capital, is home to tanker planes that refuel warplanes flying over Afghanistan. It also supports airlifts and medical evacuation operations and houses troops heading into and out of Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan do not share a border.
The threat of closure comes at a time when increasing attacks on transport depots and truck convoys in Pakistan have raised doubts about the country’s ability to protect vital supply routes — and increased the necessity for alternative routes through Central Asia.
Some 75 percent of US supplies to Afghanistan travel through Pakistan. A bomb attack on a bridge on Tuesday severed the main supply route for US troops through Pakistan, and assailants torched 10 stranded trucks yesterday.
Russia, although nominally supportive of the anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan, is wary of the US presence in Kyrgyzstan.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS