A six-nation security bloc comprised of China, Russia, and four former Soviet states has urged the US-led coalition in Afghanistan to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from member states, reports BBC. Meeting in the Kazakh capital of Astana, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, and Russia - issued a joint statement saying the active military phase of the Afghan operation was coming to an end and calling on the US-led coalition to agree to a deadline for ending the temporary use of bases and air space in member countries.
There are about 18,000 coalition forces in Afghanistan, and the US has hosted bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan since the anti-Taliban operations began in 2001.
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"Speeches at the summit by the leaders of China and Uzbekistan included veiled criticism of Western influence in the region and they follow hawkish comments by Russian officials criticizing attempts by unspecified foreign forces to destabilize Central Asia," according to MosNews. "Correspondents say the statement appears to reflect increasing concerns that the US is encouraging the overthrow of Central Asia's authoritarian governments," reports BBC.
Radio Free Europe writes "the summit highlights China's continuing efforts to build influence in Central Asia – and gain greater access to its energy resources – by making common cause with Russia and the Central Asian states against militant groups." Beijing, the major force behind the SCO, has poured more resources into maintaining it than have any of the other member states. And often, Beijing has found itself trying to push the others along in its efforts to develop the SCO into a major regional alliance. RFE points out that a Kazakh oil pipeline to China with up to 20 million tons capacity is due to be completed by December.
The Bush Administration can't do much anything right in foreign policy. The US gets invited to build military bases in the areas in which they want permanent influence, paying millions to the client states. Then, in Bush's second term emphasis on "democracy", they actively destabilize the regimes they've strengthened with financial support and the economic boom the military bases provide in hopes of installing a more friendly regime. Not surprisingly, the client states, now strong enough to stand up for themselves, want the US out. They call upon the neighboring military powers of China and Russia to stand behind them.
So Bush can either quickly undermine the local governments and cross his fingers that fundamentalist Muslims don't take over, or he can take his dollars and go home.
Bush's foreign policy is ill conceived from a narrow ideology and a naive and overly simplistic sense of how to influence events. Because of wholey inadequate intelligence, policy implementation is internally and externally inconsistent with the facts on the ground and so impossible to carry out successfully. It creates little more than an house of cards where even the local "small" players can knock over with little effort.
Dubya behaves like a toddler in a big sandbox. He smilingly slides close to other toddlers, offering to share toys. But then he wants to direct play and tell everyone what to do. Toddlers, not known for "cooperative play", start throwing sand at Dubya. Dubya has little choice but to break all the toys and pee in the sand to drive out his rivals, or take his toys and go home.
Given his track record, what do you think he will do?
Complete Article
Will US be asked to leave key military bases?
Chinese-led regional security group urges US to set timetable for withdrawal of troops.
By Matthew Clark | csmonitor.com
A six-nation security bloc comprised of China, Russia, and four former Soviet states has urged the US-led coalition in Afghanistan to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from member states, reports BBC.
Meeting in the Kazakh capital of Astana, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, and Russia - issued a joint statement saying the active military phase of the Afghan operation was coming to an end and calling on the US-led coalition to agree to a deadline for ending the temporary use of bases and air space in member countries.
There are about 18,000 coalition forces in Afghanistan, and the US has hosted bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan since the anti-Taliban operations began in 2001.
"Considering that the active phase of the military anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan has finished, member states... consider it essential that the relevant participants in the anti-terrorist coalition set deadlines for the temporary use" of bases in Central Asia, the declaration read.
AFX News, a global news agency, points out that this is the SCO's first meeting since the ouster of Kyrgyz leader Askar Akayev in March and a military crackdown in Uzbekistan in May. AFX also reports that "the leaders also included a clause on the inadmissibility of 'monopolizing or dominating international affairs' – apparently a reference to growing US influence in Central Asia."
Today's declaration echoes a similar one on the '21st century international order' signed by Putin and Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Moscow last week.
It follows a string of complaints by leaders such as Uzbek President Islam Karimov suggesting that the West was behind uprisings in three former Soviet republics in the last two years – Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.
"There should be no place for interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states," Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
Mr. Karimov said outside forces were threatening to "hijack stability and impose their model of development" on the region.
UzReport.com, Uzbekistan's largest business Internet portal, reports that Secretary-General of the SCO Zhang Deguang said three evils – terrorism, extremism, and separatism – are the main threat to peace and security in the region.
Sergei Prikhodko, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that Central Asian states will ask US-led forces when they plan to leave Uzbek and Kyrgyz bases, reports MosNews.
The active phase is now being completed and it's important to know when they will go home. ... No one is telling them it should be tomorrow, in a month, in five months or in a year and a half, but it's just straightforward that SCO members know by when the anti-terrorist coalition will leave.
"Speeches at the summit by the leaders of China and Uzbekistan included veiled criticism of Western influence in the region and they follow hawkish comments by Russian officials criticizing attempts by unspecified foreign forces to destabilize Central Asia," according to MosNews.
"Correspondents say the statement appears to reflect increasing concerns that the US is encouraging the overthrow of Central Asia's authoritarian governments," reports BBC.
Radio Free Europe writes "the summit highlights China's continuing efforts to build influence in Central Asia – and gain greater access to its energy resources – by making common cause with Russia and the Central Asian states against militant groups."
Beijing, the major force behind the SCO, has poured more resources into maintaining it than have any of the other member states. And often, Beijing has found itself trying to push the others along in its efforts to develop the SCO into a major regional alliance.
RFE points out that a Kazakh oil pipeline to China with up to 20 million tons capacity is due to be completed by December.
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