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Coalition seeks use of Kyrgyz, Tajik airbases
By Olga Dzyubenko
BISHKEK, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan is pressing requests to use airbases in the ex-Soviet states of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for the campaign, according to officials in both states.
Both France and the United States have troops at Khanabad in Uzbekistan, but President Islam Karimov has only allowed them to pursue search and rescue and humanitarian missions, prompting the coalition to seek bases for more active operations.
"We are carefully considering a request from the French government to allow aircraft into the territory of Kyrgyzstan," Askar Aitmatov, a senior official in Kyrgyzstan's presidential administration, told a news briefing on Wednesday.
"Naturally, we are looking at such questions, which are directly linked to the security not just of our country, but of the whole region, in the context of close consultations with our partners, allies and friends."
He declined to name countries with which Kyrgyzstan was in discussions and said nothing about the type or number of aircraft to be deployed. But he said any foreign deployment could be at Kant airbase, 14 km (9 miles) from Bishkek.
In Tajikistan -- between Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan -- a coalition delegation is expected this week to look at airbases.
Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov announced this month that the coalition was welcome to use any of the country's three bases, while expressing doubt that they in sufficient repair to be useful.
"Two groups of coalition experts, mostly U.S. officers, have already visited Tajikistan and a third is expected by the end of this week," a military source in Dushanbe told Reuters.
He said the group was likely to concentrate on Kulyab airbase.
"Although Kulyab is a civil airport, it is strategically located just 40 km (25 miles) from the Afghan border, and is in slightly better shape than the others mentioned by Rakhmonov."
Russia remains the main partner of all five ex-Soviet Central Asian states, of which three -- Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan -- border Afghanistan.
It was only after Russian President Vladimir Putin effectively gave them permission to offer the use of airspace and airbases in late September that they started cooperating with the coalition.
All are eager to see an end to the radical Taliban government in Afghanistan, which they blame for promoting religious extremism and terrorism in the region, as well as flows of drugs that cross Central Asia en route to Russia and Europe.
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