NEW YORK – In a move that could complicate Washington’s war effort in Afghanistan, the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan wants to bar Pentagon contractors from supplying jet fuel to an American air base that is critical to the Afghan campaign.
In an interview, Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva said private companies handling supplies should be replaced by a joint venture between a Kyrgyz state company and Russia’s state-controlled Gazpromneft, a major source of jet fuel in the region.
Such an arrangement, said Otunbayeva, would reduce corruption, increase transparency and end “the absolutely dark corner” of Pentagon contracts. She estimated that her country would collect an estimated $50 million a year by cutting out middlemen.
But the plan would provide Moscow with direct leverage over an American base outside the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, that serves as a vital logistics hub for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
Moscow has long been wary of America’s military presence in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic that Russia considers to be in its sphere of influence. Russia has frequently used Gazprom, the parent company of Gazpromneft, as an instrument of political and diplomatic pressure.
Otunbayeva, however, said she had discussed the U.S. air base, known as the Manas Transit Center, with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and was under no pressure to push out the Americans, who pay an annual rent of $60 million to the Kyrgyz government. Putting fuel supplies in the hands of a Kyrgyz-Russian joint venture, she added, would boost trust between Moscow and Washington and serve President Obama’s policy of seeking a “reset” in relations with Russia.
“We want to make absolutely clear and sure that there will be no middle people in between but a straight supply to American planes,” said Otunbayeva, who is visiting New York to attend to the U.N. General Assembly.
