The U.S. continues to have an airbase in Kyrgyzstan, although there is growing public pressure for its removal—some of this likely coming with instigation from various political elements in Russia. The Germans, meanwhile, were able to remain in Uzbekistan even after the U.S. was asked to leave and NATO forces have some limited basing facilities in Tajikistan as well.
However, the heyday of U.S. military influence in the region, and likely that of NATO as well, does seem to have passed for the foreseeable future.
It’s nice to see Martha Brill Olcott sharing our own views of how the U.S. has, to an extent, squandered opportunities in Central Asia. She of course said all of this in gentler, more neutral language, but the point remains: the U.S. has essentially given up on the “game” in the region.
This is something both Nathan and I have carped on at length, and there isn’t much more I could add to the discussion. But if the region is as strategically important as those who study it seem to believe, the ignorance and negligence with which the political leadership in Washington treat it is truly astounding—either we have gotten something dreadfully wrong, or they have. I don’t know which one is more depressing.
This post was written by...
Joshua Foust – author of 1771 posts on Registan.net.
Joshua Foust is a Fellow at the American Security Project and the author of Afghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net. His research focuses primarily on Central and South Asia. Joshua is a correspondent for The Atlantic and a columnist for PBS Need to Know. Joshua appears regularly on the BBC World News, Aljazeera, and international public radio. Joshua is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, and the Christian Science Monitor. Follow him on twitter: @joshuafoust