Analysis: Batken anti-terror center directed at Uzbekistan, not Russia or Afghanistan
Erica Marat has a good analysis of the U.S. counterterrorism center in Batken, Kyrgyzstan, and says that, at least from the Kyrgyz perspective, it has less to do with geopolitics than with Bishkek's fear of Uzbekistan:
As one representative of the Kyrgyz defense ministry told Jamestown, military officials in Bishkek hope to maintain a military battalion in the southern part of the country to respond to “local conflicts.” The terminology assumes that such conflicts would be initiated by Uzbek troops. There is a widely held view among the Kyrgyz military that Tashkent is developing its military forces with the aim of one day acquiring Kyrgyzstan’s water reservoirs and protecting the ethnic Uzbek population living in Osh and Batken by military means.
Which, of course, is probably not what the U.S. intends for the center:
The official reason underlying the need for the new center is rooted in the terrorist threat emanating from Afghanistan, and differs from an unofficial viewpoint that suggests the Kyrgyz elites want to militarily protect the southern part of the country more from their neighbor.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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