Scott Horton and Baktybek Abdrisaev: U.S. and Russia Can End the Suffering in Kyrgyzstan
[Scott Horton is an attorney and a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine and is a founding trustee of the American University in Central Asia. Baktybek Abdrisaev was Kyrgyzstan's ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2005 and is now a visiting professor of history and political science at Utah Valley University.]
The United States operates an air base in Kyrgyzstan. The keystone of the Pentagon's Northern Distribution Network, it keeps essential matériel moving into Afghanistan for NATO troops, notwithstanding steady disruption on the roads out of Pakistan.
Russia, which insists that Kyrgyzstan is in its "sphere of influence" and claims a special right to protect ethnic Russians living there, has its own air base only a few miles away from the one used by the Americans.
In theory, both of these installations serve the mutual security interests of Kyrgyzstan and its great power allies. In theory, the bases demonstrate shared security interests between Russia, the United States and Kyrgyzstan. Today Kyrgyzstan faces the most severe crisis of its history -- and the United States and Russia should act together to help alleviate it.
Perhaps as many as 2,000 of Kyrgyzstan's citizens have perished in acts of unspeakable terrorist depravity and violence. Perhaps a half million have suddenly lost their homes and possessions. Kyrgyzstan's government lit an urgent beacon calling on its allies for help. It had fair expectations of getting it.
Franklin Roosevelt, after all, reminded Americans that a good neighbor comes rushing when the house next door is on fire -- so how would a neighbor respond if he actually occupies a room in that burning house? But so far America and Russia have offered little beyond token gestures....
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The United States operates an air base in Kyrgyzstan. The keystone of the Pentagon's Northern Distribution Network, it keeps essential matériel moving into Afghanistan for NATO troops, notwithstanding steady disruption on the roads out of Pakistan.
Russia, which insists that Kyrgyzstan is in its "sphere of influence" and claims a special right to protect ethnic Russians living there, has its own air base only a few miles away from the one used by the Americans.
In theory, both of these installations serve the mutual security interests of Kyrgyzstan and its great power allies. In theory, the bases demonstrate shared security interests between Russia, the United States and Kyrgyzstan. Today Kyrgyzstan faces the most severe crisis of its history -- and the United States and Russia should act together to help alleviate it.
Perhaps as many as 2,000 of Kyrgyzstan's citizens have perished in acts of unspeakable terrorist depravity and violence. Perhaps a half million have suddenly lost their homes and possessions. Kyrgyzstan's government lit an urgent beacon calling on its allies for help. It had fair expectations of getting it.
Franklin Roosevelt, after all, reminded Americans that a good neighbor comes rushing when the house next door is on fire -- so how would a neighbor respond if he actually occupies a room in that burning house? But so far America and Russia have offered little beyond token gestures....