Foreign Policy Blogs

War Games in Central Asia

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Central Asia has taken center stage this week in series of military maneuveres and developments.  In a broad way, these developments can be seen as evidence of larger posturing between Russia (and to a lesser extent, China) on one hand and NATO and the US on the other.

First, on Saturday, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan held joint war exercises involving 1,000 soldiers as part of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) activities.  (Uzbekistan chose not to take part.)  The exercises, staged in Tajikistan, involved a “plot” in which “al Qaeda” insurgents crossed the border and took control of a chemical factory.  According to Reuters, the soldiers had to carry out very unique exercises:

Tajik soldiers demonstrated their ability to tear apart a live rabbit with their teeth and hands. Another soldier bit off the head of a small snake and ate it.

The SCO’s war games in Tajikistan are followed quickly by controversy over contrasting war games in the Caucasus, in Georgia: NATO is holding exercises there from May 6 to June 1.  Georgia, undergoing a domestic political crisis and still hurting from the loss of Abkhazia and South Osseita from the August 2008 war with Russia, is in a period of existential crisis.  A potential NATO candidate, it also is a key strategic position, most importantly for the planned Nabucco Pipeline that would help reroute gas from Russian supply routes and give Europe more agency in the natural resource market.

Russia has protested the NATO-Georgia war game plans, and has canceled its May 7 meeting with NATO to further express its dissatisfaction.  Kazakhstan announced yesterday that it would not participate in the NATO war games, mainly out of deference to Russia.  As a side note, Radio Armenia has reported that Armenia will participate in the exercises, despite the possibility that it could jeopardize its relationship with Russia.  It will be telling to note if NATO tones down the war games plans in order to bolster its tenuous ties with Moscow.  After all, NATO-Russia relations were just recently reestablished after they had been severed in August 2008.  No matter what happens, it is clear that Georgia continues to be a key strategic entity.

Finally, today, the US and Tajikistan signed a deal in which Dushanbe allows American military forces to use Tajik territory for transit of non-military cargo to Afghanistan.  This adds to the already existent US’ dossier of agreeements with Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, providing for non-military transit headed to Afghanistan… and all these agreements have been set up in order to replace the closure of the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan.

Photo Credit: AFP.

 

Author

Christopher Herbert

Christopher Herbert is an analyst of foreign affairs with specific expertise in US foreign policy, the Middle East and Asia. He is Director of Research for the Denver Research Group, has written for the Washington Post’s PostGlobal and Global Power Barometer and has served on projects for the United States Pacific Command and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He has degrees from Yale University and Harvard University in Middle Eastern history and politics and speaks English, French, Arabic and Italian.

Area of Focus
US Foreign Policy; Middle East; Asia.

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