"It looks to me like two very large countries were trying to bully some
smaller countries" . Not a statement about US and UK policy towards Iraq,
or Afghanistan, but the words of sensitive US General Richard Meyers on
Russian and Chinese policy towards Central Asia. Who needs irony?
Nick
Russia and China Bullying Central Asia, U.S. Says
Pentagon Pressured to Pull Out of Uzbek, Kyrgyz Bases
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 15, 2005; A19
The top U.S. general accused Russia and China yesterday of "trying to
bully" Central Asian nations into pressing for a timetable for the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from their countries and said the Pentagon
seeks to maintain military ties with Uzbekistan despite hundreds of
civilian deaths in unrest there in May.
"It looks to me like two very large countries were trying to bully some
smaller countries," said Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, at a news briefing. He was referring to this month's
call by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- an alliance of Russia,
China and four Central Asian states -- for the United States to set a
troop pullout deadline as operations in Afghanistan wound down.
Myers stressed that ties with Central Asia and Uzbekistan are important
to the United States for reasons beyond military operations in
Afghanistan. "We are concerned with the 300 or so folks that were killed
. . . during the rioting that went on there not so long ago. But we
still value and think it's important that we have some contact,
military-to-military contact" with Uzbekistan, he said.
Russia and China should not view the U.S. military presence in Central
Asia as expansionist, Myers and other senior U.S. officials said. "We
have no territorial designs," Myers said. "We're not threatening them,"
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith said in an
interview Monday. Feith rejected any timetable for a withdrawal, saying
that unless there is a legal requirement to do so, the U.S. military
operates based on "circumstances" and not "dates."
The strain in U.S.-Uzbek military ties was underscored yesterday by
Uzbekistan's absence from a regional cooperation exercise begun by U.S.
Central Command with several other Central Asian states.
Uzbekistan will not participate in the July 14-27 exercise focused on
counterterrorism and border security at Suffolk, Va., although
Kyrgyzstan -- whose leader this week also questioned the ongoing
presence of U.S. forces -- will join the event. Kazakhstan, Tajikistan
and Pakistan are also taking part, and Turkmenistan will send observers,
said a release from U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in
the Middle East, Horn of Africa and Central Asia.
Meanwhile, Pentagon officials said yesterday that U.S. military
operations could continue unhindered even without the use of bases such
as Karshi-Khanabad in Uzbekistan and Manas in Kyrgyzstan.
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