By RIA Novosti,
MOSCOW : The U.S. will be forced to come to an agreement with Russia on alternative supply routes for deliveries to Afghanistan after Kyrgyzstan closes a U.S. base, a U.S. expert on Russia said on Friday.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced plans to close down the U.S. Manas base after talks on Tuesday in Moscow, where he secured substantial financial aid from Russia. The base has been used to support NATO operations in nearby Afghanistan since 2001.
“The issue of [U.S.] presence in Afghanistan is of great priority in Obama’s administration. Therefore, the U.S. and Russia have a lot of possibilities to cooperate on this issue,” the director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Andrew Kuchins, said at a press conference in Moscow.
“The talks are going to be very complex, but, nonetheless, I’m sure that we’ll agree on the issue of the northern transit of cargo into Afghanistan,” he added.
According to Kuchins, one of the reasons for closing the base in Manas was that Moscow “wants Obama’s administration to pay attention to its relations with Russia.”
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin stated recently that Russia was hoping for constructive talks with the U.S. on the transit of non-military cargo via Russia to Afghanistan.
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said on Thursday the decision to close the airbase was not connected to Russian financial assistance. Russia is to write off Kyrgyzstan’s $180 million debt and give the country a $2 billion discounted loan and $150 million in financial assistance.