19.01.2016-25.01.2016 • No: 51

MILITARY COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND : THE CASE OF THE MANAS AIRBASE Since gaining independence in 1991 of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Kyrgyz Parliament refused to extend Kyrgyzstan has officially been globalized. (USSR) the airport was witnessing steady its military agreement with the U.S. in The relations of the United States (U.S.) decline. In spite of being distant from 2014 based on the desire to improve its with Central Asia commenced in the early Afghanistan, the Manas Airport was relations with Russia and on Kyrgyzstan`s 1990s, entailing diplomatic recognition selected as the best option by the U.S. plans to be accepted to the Eurasian Eco- and opening of embassies. According to Military due to its technical and infra- nomic Union in 2015. After long negotia- the agreement between the governments structural specifications. tions on the U.S. military base in Central of the U.S. and Kyrgyzstan regarding The Manas Airbase was opened as a Asia, the U.S. Manas Airbase was decided cooperation to facilitate the provision of center for deployment and transit of mili- to be closed in June 2014. assistance signed in 1993, the U.S. has tary forces during the U.S. military opera- The new policy of Kyrgyzstan contradict- been providing financial and humanitarian tion in Afghanistan on December 16, ed the plan of the U.S. military estab- aid and non-lethal military assistance to 2001. Yet, as the country was already lished in 2012 to withdraw its troops and the country to elevate sovereignty and to coping with energy shortage, the worsen- equipment from Afghanistan. The prob- achieve economic progress and democrat- ing global economic crisis affected Kyr- lem was that closing the Manas Transit ic governance. By joining the North gyzstan in 2008. Under these circum- Center was scheduled ahead of the draw- Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) stances, the Kyrgyz Government accepted down of the U.S. anti-terrorist operations Partnership for Peace in 1994 Kyrgyzstan Russia’s offer to provide a $2.15 billion in Afghanistan at the end of 2014. After has gained an opportunity to engage in a credit which later caused a transformation the decision of the Kyrgyz authorities to number of training exercises in the fields in the country's foreign policy towards a cancel the Manas air lease agreement, it of defense, security and civil emergency Russian oriented one. Hence, the Presi- became even more difficult for the U.S. planning cooperation. The purpose of the dent of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, military to act according to the plan, as it Partnership for Peace was to increase has announced intention to close the had to withdraw more than 90,000 troops stability and to reduce the threats for Manas Airbase in 2009. However, after and a number of enormous depots of peace in the region. long negotiations the U.S. Government military gear. The Manas Airbase was a The stable relationship between the two has convinced the Kyrgyz Parliament to reverse transit point of the new Distribu- states reached another level right after the extend and to reform the base lease. This tion Channel route which was established September 11 terrorist attacks. It was a was a new step in formation of the new to avoid nonstable routes through Paki- wakeup call which was considered as a status of the Manas Airbase. The new stan. life changing moment for the regional After closing the Manas Transit Center in official bilateral agreement on the U.S. politics, as in 2001 the U.S. has changed 2014, the bilateral collaboration agree- Manas International Transit Center was its foreign policy of providing mainly ment between the two states was relevant ratified on June 25, 2009. The new func- humanitarian assistance through the Unit- until the denouncement of the treaty in tion of the airport was to serve as a trans- ed States Agency for International Devel- July, 2015 prompted by the U.S. Gov- opment (USAID) to a security-oriented portation hub. Through protracted negoti- ernment human rights defender award policy in Central Asia. At that point, ations on reforming the status of the which was given to an activist who was under the Pentagon's Global Defense Manas Airbase, the U.S. Military has involved in the revolution and ethnic Posture Review (GDPR), the U.S. has significantly escalated annual fee for clashes in Kyrgyzstan. offered Kyrgyzstan to host the U.S. Inter- utilization of the airbase from $17.4 mil- To conclude, it should be noted that dur- national airbase at the ex-Soviet civilian lion to $60 million. That was not the first ing the 13 years of utilization of the Manas International Airport. Kyrgyzstan time when the U.S. officials had increased Manas International Aiport, the Airbase was provided with a military aid for sup- fee for exploitation of the airport. The first transported over 5.3 million military port of the Operation Enduring Freedom- increase was made in 2005, when the servicemen from 26 ISAF member states Afghanistan (OEF), which was coordinat- President Kurmanbek Bakiyev demanded and more than 33,000 refueling missions ed under the U.S. and the U.K. joint substantial increase of the yearly payment on their way in and out of Afghanistan. partnership and the International Security for leasing the airbase from to $2 million The U.S. Military Forces had a huge Assistance Force (ISAF) operation of the to $17.4 million. impact on the Kyrgyz economy by invest- NATO nations, in the period of 2001- In spite of the fact that the Kyrgyz Par- ing more than $318 million on the utiliza- 2014. liament was in favor of the U.S. invest- tion of the airport. Therefore, even though The Manas Airport, which was construct- ment into the Kyrgyz economy at the time the cooperation treaty was suspended in ed in 1970, was the largest civilian inter- of economic stagnation, the Manas case 2015 and the Manas Transit Center was national airport located 25 km northwest was becoming a questionable issue. How- closed in 2014, the U.S. still remains the of Bishkek. It had a long (4,200 meters) ever, Almazbek Atambayev, who won the major humanitarian partner of Kyrgyz- exiting airstrip suitable for jet bombers presidential elections in 2011, finally stan. and cargo planes. However, as the infra- brought the issue of the Manas Airbase to structure was neglected after the collapse the conclusion.

Written by Akbota Akylbayeva, Eurasian Research Institute,

the Executive Director of the BP, the from the Alat terminal. Therefore, Politics, Foreign Affairs and Security projects would be completed by the volume of transported goods will The President of Kazakhstan, 2018. increase after construction of a new Nursultan Nazarbayev, dissolved the According to the Statistics Commit- RO-RO (roll-on/roll-off) terminal in lower chamber of the Kazakh par- tee of the National Ministry of Econ- Alat enabling to transship heavy liament, the Mazhilis, and set the omy of Kazakhstan, in 2015 the trucks. early parliamentary elections for country produced 79.5 million tons On the sidelines of the meeting be- March 20, 2016. Earlier the Mazhilis of oil, including gas condensate, tween the Chinese President, Xi asked Nazarbayev for its early disso- which is 1.7% less than in 2014. Jinping, and his Iranian counterpart, lution due to the aggravating eco- Moreover, Kazakhstan increased gas Hassan Rouhani, in Tehran, Iranian nomic situation in the country. production by 5.2% and reached and Chinese officials signed 17 The Parliament of has 45.713 billion cubic meters (bcm) in Memorandums of Understanding passed amendments to the Constitu- 2015 compared to 45.462 bcm in (MoU) for cooperation in various tion allowing the current President of 2014. sectors including nuclear, economic, Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, to be According to the Chairman of Board industrial, transportation, ICT, cul- elected unlimited number of times. of Directors of the Russian gas pro- tural, science and educational fields. The Council of Justice is also to be ducer, Gazprom, Viktor Zubkov, the According to the Statistics Agency abolished. The Lower House of the company expects the price of gas under the President of Tajikistan, the Parliament submitted the adopted bill supplies to Europe to be $184 per foreign trade turnover of the country to the Constitutional Court. After- 1,000 cubic meters in the first quar- decreased by 18% or by $950 million wards, the date of the national refer- ter of 2016 versus $284 in the same in 2015 compared to 2014 reaching endum will be scheduled to adopt period of the last year. It was also $4.3 billion. The export of goods fell these changes. stated that Gazprom is planning to by almost 9% reaching $890 million During the sixth round of the Uzbek- supply 160 bcm of gas to Europe in in 2015 while the import of goods US political consultations held in 2016. In 2015 the company increased decreased by 20.1% exceeding $3.4 Washington, the Foreign Minister of its gas export to the non-CIS coun- billion. , Abdulaziz Kamilov, met tries by 8% compared to 2014 and According to the report of the State with the U.S. Assistant Secretary of reached 159.4 bcm. Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, State for South and Central Asia, According to the Minister of Energy the volume of the country’s GDP Nisha Desai Biswal. The sides dis- and Coal Industry of Ukraine, Vla- amounted to 54.4 billion manat cussed the results of cooperation for dimir Demchishin, due to the deci- ($33.5 billion) in 2015 or by 1.1% period after the fifth round of politi- sion to replace the transit tariff with more than in 2014. The share of the cal consultations held in Tashkent in a transportation tariff the cost of gas non-oil sector of the economy in December 2014, paying special at- transportation across Ukraine has Azerbaijan’s GDP hit 69.3%, which tention to prospects for further coop- risen by nearly 50%. The rate has in- is a 1.1% increase compared to 2014. eration in political and economic creased from $2.7 to $4.5 for trans- The share of the oil and gas extrac- spheres, as well as the current situa- portation of 1,000 cubic meters of tion and processing hit 30.7% in tion in Afghanistan and the regional gas for 100 km. GDP or by 1.2% more compared to security issues. Kazakhstan's national atomic com- 2014. During the meeting of the Contact pany, Kazatomprom, reported that According to the Central Bank of Group on resolving the conflict in Kazakhstan had increased uranium Russia, the country expanded its Eastern Ukraine held in Minsk, the production up to 23.8 million tons in monetary gold stocks by 208.4 met- participants welcomed the beginning 2015 compared to 22.8 million tons ric tons to 1,415 tons in 2015, which is a 17% increase compared to 2014. of mine clearance in the Donbass re- produced in 2014. The value of Russia’s gold reserves gion. However, the sides stated prob- The Ukrainian gas company, rose by 5.37% to almost $48.6 bil- lems associated with the implemen- Naftogaz, has refused to pay the bill of $2.59 billion received from Rus- lion, from $46 billion in January tation of the regime of silence in the 2015. military operation zone and an ina- sian gas giant Gazprom for the Rus- bility of the conflict participants to sian gas that Ukraine actually re- Society and Culture

conduct the prisoner swap. fused to buy in the third quarter of At least three people were killed and According to the National Anti- 2015. However, under the current 23 others were injured in an explo- Terrorism Committee of Russia, a contract signed between Gazprom sion near Russia’s embassy in Af- regime of counter-terrorism opera- and Naftogaz under the “take or pay” ghanistan’s capital Kabul. The pow- tion was introduced in the condition, the buyer is obliged to pay erful explosion was caused by an ex- Tabasaransky district of Russia’s for a minimal annual volume of gas. plosive-laden car. North Caucasus Republic of Dage- The minimum gas volume in the The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham stan. third quarter of 2015 was 10.485 Aliyev, has signed a decree to in- bcm and Gazprom claims that there Economy, Finance and Energy crease the amount of social benefits was no agreement that “take or pay” by 10% starting from February 1, During the meeting between the rule was not applied in that period. 2016. The presidential measures Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi According to the Director General of concern healthcare employees, Kvirikashvili, and the Executive Di- the Baku International Sea Trade teachers, employees of scientific and rector of the British Petroleum (BP), Port, Taleh Ziyadov, Azerbaijani research institutions, departments Robert Dudley, in Davos, the parties port plans to transship more than 5 and organizations financed from the discussed the BP’s suggestion to al- million tons of cargo in 2016. Cur- state budget, as well as employees of locate $150 million for moderniza- rently, the main transshipments are the Interior Ministry. The decision to tion of the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline carried out in the port located in Ba- raise wages was made in order to en- and for improvement of ecological ku. Shipment of goods, which are hance the level of social protection standards in Georgia. According to transported via railway, is carried out of the population.

Prepared by Lidiya Parkhomchik, Hayal Ayca Simsek, Saule Akhmetkaliyeva, Dinara Taldybayeva.