A few weeks ago when the Shanghai Cooperation Organization met in Kazakhstan, it called for the quick pullout of U.S. forces from its bases in Central Asia. The U.S. has bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, with special flight rights in Tajikistan, which are members of the SCO. Even Kyrgyzstan at the time was making statements about a timely deadline for U.S. withdrawal. It has to be remembered, however, that this was most likely due to a large amount of pressure exerted from the SCO’s larger members, China and Russia.

For a little while it looked like they would succeed in forcing the U.S. presence out of Central Asia in preparation for their own domination, but it looks like Donald Rumsfeld couldn’t have that. He made a trip to Kyrgyzstan where he gained indefinite continued use of the airbase in Manas.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld won assurances Tuesday that U.S. forces can continue to use an airbase near the Kyrgyz capital to support U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

”The base at Manas will stay as long as the situation in Afghanistan requires,” Maj. Gen. Ismail Isakov, the Kyrgyz defense minister, said during a news conference with Rumsfeld.

After his election on July 10, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had said that in light of progress toward stabilizing Afghanistan it was time to consider a U.S. exit from Manas International Airport, where about 1,000 U.S. troops are stationed.

At the news conference, Rumsfeld declined to comment on the future of U.S. access to Manas, saying it was a matter for the Kyrgyz government to decide.

But as he was approaching his plane to depart, Rumsfeld told a small group of U.S. troops that they should not wonder about the future U.S. presence in Kyrgyzstan, saying they should not be thinking about packing their bags any time soon.

But there is still the issue of the military base in Uzbekistan, where the Andijon massacre occurred in May. The Bush Administration has received the scorn of human rights activists, including myself, for taking nearly a month to formulate a response to the massacre. In short, it was basically seen as an unnecessary divergence in policy between the Pentagon and the State Department.

It looks like those differences have been hammered out, however. I think that the main concern was whether or not a huge response would drive Central Asia into the arms of Russia and China; and with the SCO meeting, that certainly seems to have been the trend of late. A dominant China certainly doesn’t help the cause of human rights. With this victory, though, the worry is offset a bit. As the blog Americans For Freedom notes, Rumsfeld was able to make this deal while totally shunning a visit to Uzbekistan, saying that the U.S. could do “fine” without a base there. He also referred any questions about it to the State Department.

Burn!

Not bad, if I must say so. The administration was able to pull off both its short-term strategic interests as well as showing that it will only work with, in the long term, countries that are moving toward democracy.