Kyrgyzstan protests: What it means for US role in Afghanistan war?

[tekisui]

Source: Christian Science Monitor

Protesters angry at rising prices, a crumbling economy, and the authoritarian leadership of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev took to the streets of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's capital, on Wednesday and tried to storm the presidential office and a number of other government installations.

The Kyrgyzstan protests also took place in other cities, and the Associated Press reports that at least 17 protesters have been killed and 180 wounded by government troops so far. Reuter's quoted a local official as saying the death toll could be as high as 50.

The instability highlights both Kyrgyzstan's vital role for the US war in Afghanistan and the compromises both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have made to deal with an increasingly unsavory regime.

Critics of Mr. Bakiyev inside and outside of the country charge that US reliance on the Manas Air Base means that Bakiyev feels little pressure to make democratic reforms or hold free elections.
A key air base

The US relies on Manas Air Base (renamed the "Transit Center at Manas" in 2009) to supply NATO forces in Afghanistan. Russia also has an air base in Kyrgyzstan.

Bakiyev's parliament voted to kick the foreigners out of the base in 2009, but Bakiyev later relented after the US promised to increase its annual rent for the base to $60 million. At around the same time, Russia provided $2 billion in loan guarantees for Kyrgyzstan, which some analysts say was an inducement to convince Bakiyev to close the US base. The US contributes a further $90 million or so annually to the Kyrgyz government.

While that may reflect political reality -- Manas is the only air base the US has access to in Central Asia – it has meant dealing with a regime accused of a host of human rights abuses.

more: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0407/Kyrgyzstan-protests-What-it-means-for-US-role-in-Afghanistan-war

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Since this story was printed, the opposition protesters claim to have taken the government and the president left the country.

[Robb]

1. "US Operations unaffected"

Amusingly, that's what http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Transit%20Center%20at%20Manas%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=nws:1&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wn">Google News says the headline is. But at S&S, it's another story, literally:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69222

[tekisui]

2. Now, that is strange.

The Google News headline directly contradicts the actual headline?

[Robb]

3. It's probably an update.

I've run a few servers that Google news crawled. It'll fix itself in a few minutes.

This happens when you don't have a new index number for an updated article, the original appears in the search for a while.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. There is an Indian airbase in Tajikistan that the US almost started using

In the end, the US agreed to pay more for Manas.

Tajikistan to allow US supplies through, after closure of airbase

After the closure of a vital airbase in Kyrgyzstan, the Tajik government has announced that it will allow supplies for US and Nato forces through its borders.

The Kyrgyz government announced they would close the Manas airbase during a visit to Moscow in which Russia said they would provide the country with an aid package worth more than 1.5 billion euros.

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon said he will allow vital supplies, such as construction materials, medicines, fuel and water to travel across the country by road.

“Tajikistan is ready to offer the United States and Nato countries help with the transit of humanitarian and commercial supplies to Afghanistan,” said Rakhmon.

http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/110/article_2812.asp