Uzbekistan orders US to quit strategic military base

July 31st, 2005 at 20:31 Björn Hallberg

A small defeat for the empire of bases. But considering how many excess bases have been constructed in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as neighbouring countries I don’t think this will be a problem. In fact, the US has never had more foreign bases than it currently does.

Uzbekistan has ordered US military personnel to leave an air base in the country, adding to US logistical difficulties in conducting its operations in Afghanistan.

The US military said on Sunday that strategists were planning their response to the loss of facilities in Uzbekistan. The Karshi-Khanabad air base–commonly called K2–has been an important staging post for operations in Afghanistan where US troops continue to battle the Taliban and deliver humanitarian aid.

The Pentagon said the notification from the central Asian nation had not come as a surprise. Relations with the US have become strained after the Uzbek government suppressed a rebellion in the eastern town of Andizhan in May.

Analysts believe that as relations have cooled with the US, Uzbekistan has been cementing ties with Russia and China with both countries expressing strong support for the Uzbek government’s response to the May rebellion.

China and Russia are thought to be nervous about the US military’s presence in the resource-rich area. Earlier this summer China announced a deal to invest heavily in Uzbekistan’s oil industry.

Indeed. This has got not so much to do with human rights as it has with resources. And as for the US, they sure took their time condemning the suppression, and for the longest time maintained a flimsy story about Islamic terrorists in Andizhan. It should also be noted in this context that the US has performed much of the training of Uzbekistan’s modernized army like with so many ex-Soviet republics.

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