US gets continued use of Kyrgyz air base

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld won assurances from top government officials today that American forces face no near-term deadline for withdrawing from an air base near the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek that they use to support combat and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

“The base at Manas will stay as long as the situation in Afghanistan requires,” Major General Ismail Isakov, the Kyrgyz defence minister, said during a news conference with Rumsfeld at the presidential palace.

After his election on July 10, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had said that in light of progress toward stabilising Afghanistan it was time to consider asking Washington to pull out about 1,000 US troops, who have been stationed at Manas International Airport since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001.

In his remarks today, Isakov suggested that US forces would not be welcome here permanently.

“The deployment of American forces in the Kyrgyz republic totally depends on the situation in Afghanistan,” he said. “Once there is stabilisation, there will be no need. But now I agree with Mr Rumsfeld, who mentioned that the situation in Afghanistan is far from stable.”

Later Rumsfeld flew to Tajikistan, which has a long border with northern Afghanistan, for talks in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, with President Emomali Rahmonov and Colonel General Sherali Khayrulloyev, the defence minister.

The US military has no troops based in Tajikistan, but it has an arrangement that permits US military aircraft to “gas-and-go” from Tajik airfields and to fly over Tajik territory on missions related to the Afghanistan war.

At the news conference in Bishkek, Rumsfeld declined to comment on the future of US access to Manas, saying it was a matter for the Kyrgyz government to decide.

But as he was approaching his plane to depart, Rumsfeld told a small group of US troops that they should not wonder about the future US presence in Kyrgyzstan, saying they should not be thinking about packing their bags any time soon.

In remarks at the start of his meeting with Bakiyev, Rumsfeld congratulated his government on the conduct of the election.

He said the voting was free and fair, as assessed by international monitors, and that this would bolster relations with the US and other countries.

The US use of Manas for air support operations in Afghanistan contributes about €41.5m a year to the Kyrgyz economy, according to US officials.

Rumsfeld aides said he emphasised in meetings with Bakiyev and Isakov that military operations in Afghanistan are not winding down and still require logistics and other support from bases in the region.

At the start of a three-day tour of the region yesterday, Rumsfeld said the US military could sustain its operations in Afghanistan even if the US lost access to a key air base in neighbouring Uzbekistan.

“We’re always thinking ahead. We’ll be fine,” Rumsfeld told reporters travelling with him from Washington.

The Uzbek government has raised doubt about continued US access to Karshi-Khanabad air base, which has been used as a staging point for operations in Afghanistan since the start of the war in October 2001.

It was Rumsfeld’s second visit in four months to Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of five million people that also hosts a Russian base.

A regional organisation led by Russia and China issued a statement calling for the US to set a timetable for withdrawing its forces from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Tensions in Washington’s relations with Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian nations stem partly from an eruption of violence in mid-May in the Uzbek city of Andijan.

The Uzbek government blamed armed, organised terrorists and said about 175 people were killed, some by government forces. Others claimed that up to 1,500 had died at the hands of government troops, including a large number of innocent bystanders.

When the US urged the Uzbek government to allow an international fact-finding mission, President Islam Karimov refused and imposed new limits on US use of Karshi-Khanabad air base.