MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Pyotr Goncharov.)
The decision of the Astana summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) regarding American bases was not a slip of the tongue.
The foreign minister of Tajikistan said the other day there was no sense in keeping the U.S. bases in Central Asia. "The problem of Afghanistan is nearly solved; the Taliban are being dealt with; the political situation is stabilizing; the presidential election has been held and preparations are underway for the parliamentary election" in that country, Talbak Nazarov said at a press conference in Dushanbe. (There are no American bases in Tajikistan.)
Some time before, the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan issued a statement saying that the military airfield Khanabad had been provided to the Americans only for the duration of the military operation against the Taliban and its subsequent use was not stipulated in agreements. Uzbekistan asked the Americans to quickly set the deadline to their presence in that Central Asian state.
Soon after that, Apas Dzhumagulov, Kyrgyzstan's Ambassador to Russia, announced that the U.S. military base at Manas airport would be gradually pulled out, while the Russian base at Kant would remain. President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev confirmed this stand last Sunday.
The six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization - Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - called on the U.S. at their July 5 summit in Astana to set a date for the withdrawal of its military bases that had been deployed in Central Asia for the counter-terrorist operation in Afghanistan.
"In view of the end of the active military phase of the counter-terrorist operation in Afghanistan, the SCO member states believe it necessary for the concerned members of the counter-terrorist coalition to set a timetable for ending the temporary use of the said infrastructure facilities and the deployment of their military groups in the SCO member states," said the final declaration of the summit.
As expected, this desire did not please Washington. Gen. Richard B. Myers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said this part of the declaration was adopted under pressure from Russia and China. "It looks to me like two very large countries were trying to bully some smaller countries," he said. "Central Asia is important to the United States for lots of reasons, not just for operations in Afghanistan."
Moscow immediately expressed embarrassment over the first part of Gen. Myers' statement, saying that all SCO decisions are made by consensus and reflect the collective opinion of its member states.
As for the second part, Gen. Myers is certainly right: Central Asia is important to the U.S. per se, without any relation to Afghanistan. The counter-terrorist operation there was just a suitable pretext for deploying American bases in Central Asia.
Washington believes that the future of its bases in the region, primarily in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, should be determined exclusively at bilateral talks. This means that, according to Washington, the future of the bases is not in the competence of the governments of other regional states or the six-country organization, the SCO.
But the U.S. administration never says the whole truth when speaking about the threat of terrorism, extremism and the like in the region. It forgets about its gentleman's agreement with Russia and other regional states, in particular Kazakhstan, which was the groundwork for the deployment of the bases.
Under it, American bases in Central Asia were established for the counter-terrorist operation in Afghanistan. This means that Russia, Kazakhstan and China have sufficient arguments to support their stand, especially since U.S. aircraft overfly the three countries' territory on their way to their bases in Central Asia.
I can understand Washington's irritation at the SCO's declaration. In February this year, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov spoke in support of the U.S. base in his country.
During a surprise visit to Kyrgyzstan following the March events there, Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld seemingly secured the support of the new republican leadership, in particular Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who said his country would not change its stance on U.S. bases. In the past, Bishkek preferred not to spotlight the connection between the American base at Manas and the operation in Afghanistan, which suited Washington but not Moscow.
But policy, in particular on regional issues, can change very quickly. The White House does not like to speak about the obvious fact that the U.S. military presence in Central Asia allows it to influence the foreign policy of the regional states and domestic processes there. Moscow and Beijing can disregard the former, but the latter has become a troublesome issue for Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
By adopting their declaration, the SCO member states showed that they have their own interests in the region and the priority right to protect them.
