US Tells Shanghai Grouping to Butt Out of Air Base Issue

The United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, Richard Boucher has warned the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, SCO, not to interfere in Kyrgyzstan’s arrangements with the US for its military base outside the capital Bishkek. NBCentralAsia experts say the regional grouping is likely to discuss the issue anyway, but will not necessarily demand a US withdrawal.



During a visit to Kyrgyzstan on June 11, Boucher, said the presence of the US base should not be discussed at the upcoming SCO summit in Bishkek in August.



“The base is part of the bilateral cooperation between the US and Kyrgyzstan, and is supported by an appropriate agreement. There is no need for third parties to interfere on the issue,” said Boucher, in remarks quoted by the AKIpress news agency.



At the 2005 SCO summit in Astana, heads of member states which include Russia and China adopted a declaration calling for the US-led Coalition operating in Afghanistan to set a deadline for withdrawing its military from SCO countries.



Kyrgyzstan subsequently asked for higher rent for the US use of its base at Manas airport. In June 2006, after tense negotiations, it was agreed that the US would pay 150 million US dollars as a one-off assistance package and a 15 million dollars a year for the lease of the base.



In December 2006, an American serviceman shot dead a Kyrgyzstan national working at the base, reigniting the debate about whether it was in Kyrgyzstan’s interests to allow the US base to be in the country at all.



According to political scientist Murat Suyunbaev, SCO members will discuss the base despite Boucher’s statement, but that does not mean the grouping will insist on a US withdrawal. If the SCO members really wanted this, they would have already put pressure on Kyrgyzstan, but that has not happened yet, says Suyunbaev.



Defence expert Leonid Bondarets believes the issue of the American base lies within the scope of the SCO’s interests, and “it would be perfectly logical” for members to discuss it at the summit.



Bondarets says the US presence will also be discussed by the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, CSTO.



“Kyrgyzstan is located within the CSTO zone, and other members of the grouping will try to ensure that the country stays there,” he said. “Is it really in Kyrgyzstan’s interests to leave these organisations in order to retain the American base?”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)