The country of Afghanistan, despite heavy U.S. military presence for nearly a decade, has remained in many respects out of reach of American military power. That’s what makes the overthrow of the government in nearby Kyrgyzstan last week so vexing for the U.S. government.
Kyrgyzstan is home to the only American military base in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, a base which the U.S. relies on to send troops and supplies into Afghanistan as the war there rages on.
The base has been a contentious part of Kyrgyz politics, and a point of tension between Russia and the United States. Russia reportedly wants the Manas base closed, and last year offered the Kyrgyz government $2 billion in aid to do so. But Kyrgyzstan announced it would keep the base open after the U.S. agreed to pay a substantially higher rent — $60 million a year instead of $17.4 million.
Critics contend that the United States, in trying to hold on to its base, agreed to give contracts for jet fuel to companies with strong ties to the ruling parties. As the New York Times reported today, the Pentagon says the contracts don’t violate any rules. But critics say the son of the deposed president was skimming millions off the contracts.
Those critics include officials in the new government.
“Whatever the Pentagon’s policy of buying warlords in Afghanistan, the state of Kyrgyzstan demands more respect,” Edil Baisalov, chief of staff of the interim leader, Roza Otunbayeva, told the Times. “The government of Kyrgyzstan will not be bought and sold. We are above that.”
Over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Otunbayeva by phone and sent Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake to the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. The base lies at the Manas airport outside Bishkek.
The ousted president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has refused to resign and promised more bloodshed if the government tries to arrest him. More than 80 people died when protesters stormed the capitol April 7.
Critics of the U.S. also say the Americans have looked the other way on human rights issues, and the increasingly autocratic rule of Bakiyev, in order to hang on to the base.
Kyrgyzstan’s government has been turbulent and uncertain for years. In 2005, another popular uprising ousted the president and installed a new government. Bakiyev won the subsequent presidential elections. After his election, his administration made clear that the U.S. was still welcome to use the base.
A years-long power struggle between the presidency and other branches of government has seen the constitution changed four times in the past four years. According to the CIA, protests throughout 2006 resulted in a new constitution that transferred some presidential power to the legislature. The next month, in December of 2006, the government passed amendments restoring some of those powers to the president. In 2007, both constitutions were declared null and the country reverted to a 2003 document, which was then changed in what the CIA calls a “flawed referendum.”
