Central Asia for the long haul
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 12:03AM
Thomas P.M. Barnett in Citation Post, Long War, US Military

Eurasia.net story via WPR's Media Round-Up.

I remember getting in trouble while working in OSD for saying in a public speech that the US would have military bases in Central Asia for decades.

Well. . .

The Pentagon is preparing to embark on a mini-building boom in Central Asia. A recently posted sources-sought survey indicates the US military wants to be involved in strategic construction projects in all five Central Asian states, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

In perhaps the highest-profile project, the Pentagon intends to construct an anti-terrorism training center in southern Kyrgyzstan. The facility was originally intended to be built in Batken. But now it appears that it will be situated in Osh.

According to the notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website in mid-May, the US Army Corps of Engineers wants to hear from respondents interested in participating in “large-scale ground-up design-build construction projects in the following Central South Asian States (CASA): Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; and Uzbekistan.”

Just so we remember who the neighbors are, because they have a HOA known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Article originally appeared on Thomas P.M. Barnett (https://thomaspmbarnett.com/).
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