[A-List] US Military Thrown Out Of Uzbekistan

["tony black" <tal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Rick Rozoff

To: Rick Rozoff

Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 8:52 AM

Subject: [stopnato] US Military Thrown Out Of Uzbekistan

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=51743


Reuters
July 30, 2005


US military thrown out of Uzbekistan


Washington - Uzbekistan evicted the United States on
Friday from a military base that has served as a hub
for combat and humanitarian missions to Afghanistan
since shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks,
the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

A notice to leave Karshi-Khanabad air base, also known
as K2, was delivered by a courier from the Uzbek
Foreign Ministry to the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, the
newspaper said, citing an unnamed senior U.S.
administrative official involved in Central Asia
policy.
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050730/UZBEK30/TPInternational/TopStories


Reuters
July 30, 2005


Uzbekistan evicting U.S. from base, report says


WASHINGTON - Uzbekistan evicted the United States
yesterday from a military base that has served as a
hub for combat and humanitarian missions to
Afghanistan since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, the Washington Post reported today.

A notice to leave Karshi-Khanabad air base, also known
as K2, was delivered by a courier from the Uzbek
Foreign Ministry to the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, the
newspaper said, citing an unnamed senior U.S.
administrative official involved in Central Asia
policy.

Uzbekistan will give the United States 180 days to
move aircraft, personnel and equipment, the newspaper
said. It said the United States expects Uzbekistan to
follow through on the eviction notice and the action
would create logistical problems for U.S. operations
in Afghanistan.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld returned this week
from Central Asia, where he won assurances from
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that the United States can
use their bases for operations in Afghanistan. U.S.
forces use Tajikistan for emergency landings and
occasional refuelling, but it lacks good roads in
Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan does not border Afghanistan.

"We always think ahead. We'll be fine,'' Mr. Rumsfeld
said when asked how the United States would cope with
losing the base in Uzbekistan.

Yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Larence Rita was
reported by the Post website as saying that the U.S.
military does not depend on one base in any part of
the world.

"We'll be able to conduct our operations as we need
to, regardless of how this turns out. It's a
diplomatic issue at the moment.''
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=9289


Al-Jazeera
July 30, 2005


Uzbekistan formally evicts the U.S. from air base 


In an unusual move, Uzbekistan yesterday formally
evicted the United States from a military base that
served as a hub for missions to Afghanistan after the
September 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagon and State
Department officials said.

According to a senior U.S. administration official
involved in Central Asia policy, the notice of
eviction from K2 or Karshi-Khanabad air base was
delivered on Friday by a courier from the Uzbek
Foreign Ministry to the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent.

But the official added that the message didn’t provide
the reason behind this move.

The United States is given 180 days to move aircraft,
personnel and equipment, U.S. officials said.

The move comes four days before a senior State
Department official was to arrive in Tashkent to hold
talks with the government of President Islam Karimov.

Uzbekistan-U.S. relationship has been increasingly
tense since May protests in the province of Andijan,
the worst since Uzbekistan's independence from the
Soviet Union.

Commenting on the move that was reported by The
Washington Post in its Saturday edition, Pentagon
spokesman Glenn Flood said "We are aware of the
diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy on the issue of K2
air field and we are working with the State
Department, evaluating the note to see exactly what it
means."

State department officials could not be reached for
comment.

The Post says that Uzbekistan’s move is expected to
create logistical problems for the U.S. military in
Afghanistan. The report added that scores of flights
used K2 to transfer humanitarian goods to northern
Afghanistan, particularly to Mazar-e Sharif -- with no
alternative for a region difficult to reach in the
winter.

"The air field has been important to us and the U.S.
allies in operations over there," Flood said.

And while the U.S. regards its bases in Uzbekistan and
Kyrgyzstan as vital for its military operations in
Afghanistan, its presence in Central Asia has resulted
in tensions with Russia and China, which joined the
five ex-Soviet Central Asian states earlier this
month, demanding the U.S. to set a deadline for
leaving the bases.

The U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has just
returned from Central Asia, where he won assurances
from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that the United States
can use their bases for the military operations in
Afghanistan.

Asked Sunday about how the U.S. would cope with losing
the base in Uzbekistan, the Secretary of Defense said
"we always think ahead. We'll be fine".

In May, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman called access
to the airfield "undeniably critical in supporting our
combat operations" and humanitarian deliveries.

Since 2001, the United States paid Uzbek authorities
$15 million for using the airfield, Whitman said.

"We'll be able to conduct our operations as we need
to, regardless of how this turns out. It's a
diplomatic issue at the moment," Di Pentagon spokesman
Lawrence T. Di Rita said on Friday, adding that the
U.S. military does not depend on one base in any part
of the world.

The coming step, according to analysts, will be
whether the U.S. will withhold its $22 million aid to
Uzbekistan if it does not comply with provisions on
political and economic reforms it committed to
undertake in a 2002 strategic partnership agreement
with Washington.

The U.S. withheld $11 million last year.
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http://www.zaman.com/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20050730&hn=22378


Cihan News Agency (Turkey)
July 30, 2005


Uzbekistan Officially Asks US Evacuate Military Base


Uzbekistan has officially demanded that the US
evacuate the military base in south of the country it
has been claimed.

The Washington Post published a news story based on
information given by Defense and State departments
employees, saying that Uzbekistan issued a circular in
which they demanded the US disengagement from the air
force base in Karshi-Kanabad, known as “K2”. The
statement has been sent to the US Embassy in the
capital Tashkent by an Uzbek Foreign Ministry envoy.






           
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