U.S. soldiers talk during a ceremonial handover of Imam Ali Air Base, known to the U.S. military as Camp Adder, to Iraqi security forces from the U.S. military forces near Nassiriya, 300 km (184 miles) southeast of Baghdad, December 16, 2011. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS)
Washington [US], January 12 [ANI]: The US has started to persuade the governments of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to allow its military bases on the territory of these Central Asian countries.
First of all, this will enable the American military to conduct special operations in Afghanistan and deliver “over-the-horizon” missile strikes there against reconnaissance targets using long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), according to Frontier Post.
Earlier, last October, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kal, during a hearing in the US Senate Armed Services Committee, hinted that, if necessary, in order to establish bases in the Central Asian region, the Pentagon would bribe the leadership of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Moscow, in turn, strongly opposes America’s military presence in Central Asia, which for Russia is important for organizing its strategic defense. The Kremlin also realizes that the penetration of radical elements from Afghanistan to the north is a serious threat to its security.
An article in the Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs proposes to find allies among the neighboring countries in Afghanistan and organize the interaction with them and neutral territorial entities to export their collaborators from Afghanistan.
The US tends at all costs to locate bases on the territory of Uzbekistan or Tajikistan, which will host UAVs along with the infrastructure for maintenance and support, command posts, as well as special operations forces and analytical units to evaluate intelligence data and prepare recommendations for decision-making for the use of shock drones, Frontier Post reported.
Also, by having military bases in Tajikistan, the US will hope to continue its operations through Special Forces against the Taliban regime along with the help of ethnic Tajikistan based in Afghanistan. (ANI)
