I thought it might be worth pointing out that General Abizaid visited Turkmenistan in 2004 as well.
Commander of the United States Central Command, General John B. Abizaid paid an official visit to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 29-30. Today, he met President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov and discussed military-to-military cooperation and border security support, as well as political and economic issues. General Abizaid also met with Minister of Defense, General-Colonel Agageldy Mammetgeldyev and Commander of the State Border Service of Turkmenistan, General Major Orazberdy Soltanov.
There’s a little more on the visit here.
To me anyway, this doesn’t sound all that different from what both sides have said was discussed this year.
Of course I entirely understand that the context is different. The US has lost a base in the region, and it is entirely understandable that people would see the visit through that filter.
Unfortunately, I have nothing in my archives regarding Abizaid’s visit last year, but there have always been those who have argued that the US is trying to dominate the region and get bases anywhere possible (preferably close to Iran). “Those” includes the Russian press and political analysts.
Anyway, there’s nothing particularly unique about Abizaid’s Turkmenistan visit. There’s no reason to spend any more time speculating that the US will base planes there than there is reason to speculate that it will be Tajikistan. One would certainly have hoped that EurasiaNet in particular would have recalled that the visit was not something unique and that Russian press allegations that the US is trying to encircle and strangle it are certainly a dime-a-dozen.
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