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[Second Issue of the Day]
#8
Franks sees no permanent US bases in Central Asia
By Olga Dzyubenko
BISHKEK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Washington does not plan to maintain a permanent military presence in ex-Soviet Central Asia despite a substantial build-up of troops there now, the general commanding the U.S.-led Afghan campaign said on Wednesday.
"We don't intend to have permanent bases in the region," General Tommy Franks told reporters on a visit to Kyrgyzstan.
But despite the remarks, sceptics in Russia said they suspected U.S. troops would not soon give up their new foothold in what Moscow still regards as its own backyard.
Speaking after meeting Kyrgyzstan's President Askar Akayev in the capital, Bishkek, Franks said that even without a troop presence the United States would remain involved in the region as it continued its campaign against violent militants.
"We will continue to have discussions with each of the countries in the region as well as a great many around the world," he said.
After the September 11 attacks on the United States, Washington won permission for bases and logistical support from four of the five ex-Soviet Central Asian states near Afghanistan -- Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
The fifth, Turkmenistan, is officially neutral.
While Moscow has also backed the U.S.-led coalition and raised no objection to the presence of U.S. troops in Central Asia, it has started to question how long they will remain. President Vladimir Putin has said he expects it not to be long.
Sergei Yushenkov, the liberal deputy chairman of the security committee in Russia's State Duma lower house of parliament, said it made sense for the Americans to say the bases were temporary but to keep them indefinitely anyway.
"I would not consider (Franks's) statement as the final decision of the United States," he told Reuters.
"Central Asian countries may ask for these bases to have temporary status. But I think these countries will ask the United States to prolong that period as long as possible.
"If the United States were to decline to keep permanent bases in central Asia, they would be behaving unpragmatically. I do not think they would behave unpragmatically."
He said keeping the bases was in the interests of regional leaders, because they provided leverage in dealing with Moscow, created local jobs and helped guarantee overall security.
There are now some 200 Americans at Kyrgyzstan's Manas airport near Bishkek and this will eventually build up to around 3,000 and some 40 aircraft. At least 1,500 are based in Uzbekistan's Khanabad airbase near the Afghan border.
Franks will end a five-day visit to the region on Friday.
(Additional reporting by Ivan Rodin in Moscow)
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