Eurasia News Week in Review - March 7, 2014 Share This /

The closure of the Manas Transit Center and the termination of a military cooperation agreement between Kyrgyzstan and the United States will likely lead to a decline in security cooperation activities between the countries, according to Central Command’s annual posture statement. Below is a roundup of these stories and some of the other top articles and news highlights from around Central Eurasia over the last week:

Top stories from Central Asia and the South Caucasus:

• On Thursday, the Commander of the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan announced that the military facility has completed its final mission, after the last troops transited through facility last Friday. Colonel John Millard stated that some remaining troops will now prepare the facility for its transfer to Kyrgyz authorities ahead of the July 11 deadline. While the closure of Manas leaves the United States without a military facility in Central Asia, rumors continue to swirl – some more serious than others – regarding the U.S.’s intentions to establish new military operations in the region. However, given both the challenges of finding a host for such facilities and the U.S.’s complicated history at Manas, it remains unlikely that the U.S. will create a similar military presence in the region in the near future. 
• With the closure of Manas and the termination of the U.S.-Kyrgyz Framework Defense Cooperation Agreement, U.S.-Kyrgyz security cooperation is likely to decrease, according to U.S. Central Command’s posture statement. General Lloyd Austin delivered this statement in front of both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees this week. The posture statement includes some other details about U.S. security relations in the region:
  • The U.S. security relationship with Uzbekistan “is advancing in a deliberate, balanced way.” More specifically, in 2013 the U.S. resumed training of Uzbekistan’s Special Forces. 
  • The Defense Department’s counternarcotics accounts represent one of the largest sources of assistance to Central Asia. However, the majority of Central Command’s counternarcotics funding comes through Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) appropriations, so the posture statement asks for continued funding to Central Asia even as the OCO budget is likely to decrease.
• The recent Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula has created significant reverberations in Central Eurasia. While the parallel between ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and the Central Asian authoritarians has meant little coverage of the crisis in most state-controlled media, some governments have criticized Russia’s actions. These criticisms have largely followed geopolitical lines, as the governments of Uzbekistan and Georgia have expressed support for Ukraine’s sovereignty. Georgia in particular has been in close cooperation with Ukraine since the beginning of the crisis, and its ruling party adopted a resolution urging the U.S. and European Union “to take effective political and economic measures” to protect Ukraine. While the U.S. has sharply condemned Russia’s actions, some officials are concerned that political problems with Russia could disrupt the Defense Department’s valuable Northern Distribution Network that travels through Central Asia and Russia.

Quick hits from Central Asia and the South Caucasus:

• The State Department released an abridged version of its annual budget request, the Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ). The Security Assistance Monitor will post the data and further analysis soon, but one interesting observation is that the State Department’s request for 2015 International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement funding in Central Asia is nearly half of the actual 2013 spending through this account in the region.
• The State Department also released its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, which outlines the department’s counter-drug activities around the globe.
• Russia has been increasing military presence at its bases in Central Asia over the last couple of weeks in order to “widen Russian military presence in a number of the world’s key regions.” February 27 saw the deployment of additional paratroopers and planes to its base in Kyrgyzstan, followed by a delivery of surveillance drones to a base in Tajikistan three days later.
• Tajikistan called for international support for improving security on its 1,344 kilometer-long border with Afghanistan this week, during a conference on cross-border cooperation in Dushanbe. Tajikistan expressed its anxiety that the possible deterioration of the military-political situation in Afghanistan “tends to expand” cross-borders.
• The U.S. handed over six Toyota land cruisers and crime scene equipment to Kyrgyzstan’s Drug Control Services this week as part of a ceremony recognizing the adoption of Kyrgyzstan’s counternarcotics policy. Concurrently, the U.S. and Armenian Border Guard celebrated the completion of two-year counter-proliferation project this Thursday. The project provided Armenian forces with training and equipment for WMD detection, identification, and other necessary functions.
• Members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s Military Committee discussed the creation of a common air and missile defense system in Moscow on Wednesday. Additional topics discussed included joint trainings and operations in the coming year and the readiness of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces.
• Azeri-Press Agency (APA) reported this week that Azerbaijan exported $123 million in military products in 2013, more than five times what it did the preceding year.