Posted on 10/01/2011 4:19:12 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
US finds new friend in Uzbekistan after Pakistan fallout
President Obama has asked Uzbekistan to expand its role in resupplying troops in Afghanistan as Washington tries to reduce its dependence on Pakistan.
By Rob Crilly, Islamabad and James Kilner in Astana
5:05PM BST 30 Sep 2011
The past fortnight has seen relations between Islamabad and Washington sink to new lows over allegations that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency was working with the Haqqani network to direct attacks on American targets in Afghanistan.
The crisis, the latest in a turbulent year, has seen both countries scrambling to build up alternative regional alliances.
However, more than a third of supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan pass through Pakistan, giving Islamabad a strong bargaining position.
A White House official said President Obama had discussed sending more supplies through the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan during a phone call with the country's president, Islam Karimov.
At the same time, Hillary Clinton met her Uzbek counterpart on Thursday, and Congress is considering legislative changes that would allow more military aid to the Central Asian despite its poor human rights record.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I thought Pah kee stahn was one of zero’s friends.
Well, at least they make pretty good Plov (Pilav) in Uzbekistan...
That’s the problem, they are his friends, not ours.
They also have excellent Vodka.
While Bush strog-armed them into reluctant "cooperation", Obama began alienating them during his campaign by making them the "real problem" to divert us from a chance for success in Afghanistan.
That's right. And the people seem to have the right attitude about Muslim religious zealots. Remember this quote:
"They would prohibit us from drinking vodka, and to make love to another man's wife would become a dangerous thing, with maybe a chance at execution," said Ismat Islamov, a bus driver visiting the city. "Uzbeks don't want that."
Did anyone else read Rumsfeld’s book? I thought he was very annoyed with Condi because, as Secretary of State, she took a position that angered the Uzbeks about something and put our relations with them (and the assets we had there) at risk. I thought it was Uzbekistan...
"The United States can find alternatives to Uzbekistan to fight the war on terrorism, Rice told reporters as she flew to the region for a tour that is pointedly avoiding the country. Uzbekistan has provided a base at Karshi-Khanabad, known as K-2, for military and humanitarian operations in neighboring Afghanistan since shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." link
I didn't think Uzbekistan was a "new" friend.
Between 2001 and 2005 the United States Air Force used the base, also known as K2 and “Stronghold Freedom”, for support missions against al-Qaeda in neighbouring Afghanistan. The 416th Air Expeditionary Operations Group was the host unit. On July 29, 2005, amid strained relations caused by the May 2005 unrest in Uzbekistan, the United States was told to vacate the base within six months. It was vacated by the United States in November 2005.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karshi-Khanabad_Air_Base
We already have the most valuable friend in that region: India. :duh:
They WERE the real problem unfortunately. It only took Obama a long time to figure that.
More importantly India doesn’t border Afghanistan.
...minor point.
Does not preclude what I said.
Hmmm, well then can you explain how we can drive the OEF supply trucks from India to Afghanistan if we’re not going to go through Pakistan? Via China? Iran?
Not sure if Russia likes this outcome.
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