Vol. 73/No. 28      July 27, 2009

Until now Moscow had restricted use of its territory to shipments by railroad of “nonlethal” supplies, even though it also opposes—for its own reasons—Taliban forces in Afghanistan. The new agreement allows 4,500 U.S. military flights a year.

A July 6 White House statement says the agreement will allow Washington to “further diversify the crucial transportation routes and decrease the amount of time needed” to move troops and equipment.

In a related development, the government of Kyrgyzstan reversed its earlier decision to close the U.S. air base there. Instead, it agreed last month to a one-year lease in exchange for an increase of annual rent to $60 million, from $17 million. The decision caps the current stage in a bidding war between Washington and Moscow to gain bases and influence in Central Asia.

Both decisions help Washington as it escalates the war in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. U.S. supply routes through Pakistan have been closed on occasion due to attacks by Taliban forces or by Pashtun tribes protesting Pakistani military operations in their territory.

Responding to reports that Moscow might open a second Russian air base in Kyrgyzstan, a senior U.S. diplomat told Voice of America that Washington would not object.

The number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan combined is approaching the level that it was at the height of the so-called surge in Iraq in 2007. There are currently 177,000 U.S. troops total in both countries, 43,000 of them in Afghanistan.  
 
Nuclear weapons
While Obama was in Russia, he and Russian president Dmitri Medvedev signed an agreement that would ostensibly cut their “strategic” nuclear arsenals by one-quarter.

Together Russia and the United States hold 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons. Even if the cuts are carried out by the 2016 deadline, Moscow and Washington would still be allowed to keep up to 1,675 nuclear warheads each.

Obama and Medvedev also agreed to resume military contacts suspended after the Russian invasion of Georgia.

In spite of what Obama calls hitting the “reset” button, tensions between the two governments remain as they jockey for position to defend their competing economic and political interests in the region, especially in the countries that make up the former Soviet Union. Washington continues to develop its missile defense system in Poland, in spite of Moscow’s objections. And while Moscow suspended the delivery of an air defense system to Iran, it has not agreed to join other U.S.-backed sanctions against the Iranian government.

Obama’s July 7 speech at the New Economic School in Moscow was not shown live on any major Russian channel.
 
 
Related articles:
London rally: ‘British troops out of Afghanistan!’  
 
 
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