Named after the eponymous hero of the “Manas Epos,” the
Kyrgyz national epic, the American Transit Center at the Manas airport near
Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan was originally opened through an agreement
with Kyrgyzstan’s former President, Askar Akayev, in December of 2001 to
support operations in Afghanistan. The siting of the base in Kyrgyzstan was a
political coup for Akayev -- the government of Tajikistan had also hoped to negotiate a deal to open an airbase, but Manas was ultimately chosen instead – and brought much-needed money into the sagging Kyrgyz economy, factors that
both helped to shore up Akayev’s legitimacy during a period in which his
government was becoming increasingly unpopular.
From the very beginning, however, the Transit Center has
been mired in controversy. During the Akayev era, much of the money that was
flowing into Kyrgyzstan through Manas ended up in the hands of corrupt
government insiders, including members of Akayev’s family. As Alexander Cooley has noted, “[t]he lion’s share of base-related funds flowed not to national
agencies… but to private Kyrgyz entities closely tied to the ruling regime.” When
Akayev was ousted in the 2005 Tulip Revolution, his successor, Kurmanbek
Bakiyev, took a harder line on the base, and demanded more money from the U.S.
government to continue operating the base. Although Bakiyev was only able to
extract limited concessions from the United States, he was successful in
exploiting the popular association of the Manas Transit Center with the corruption
of the Akayev regime. This perception has only continued to grow, since
successive Kyrgyz governments have enriched themselves through Manas. Indeed,
one analyst has written that Manas “has become a milling method for the ruling elite.” Many local businessmen, moreover, have begun to complain that
lobster, choice cuts of meat, and other gourmet food is being smuggled off the
base by figures associated with organized crime and being sold at below-market
prices in Bishkek, effectively undercutting their business. Decades of
corruption and criminal activity have thus bred no small amount of resentment
towards the presence of the Transit Center.
Another factor that contributes to bitterness vis-à-vis
Manas is the widespread perception that the United States is an arrogant,
imperialist power. Noise from the airbase, as well as jettisoning of fuel by
American aircraft have enraged locals, as have incidents, such as a 2006 collision involving an American KC-135 Stratotanker and a civilian Tu-154. The handling
of the 2006 shooting of Aleksandr Ivanov, a Kyrgyzstani driver who worked on
the base, by Zachary Hatfield, an Air Force serviceman, only added to the
perception that the United States has little regard for Kyrgyzstan beyond its
utility as an airbase. Hatfield was never charged, and Ivanov’s family was
offered $2000 in recompense, which Harper’s notes was “an act widely viewed in Kyrgyzstan as a calculated insult.” Harper's goes on to note that “The American management of the
incident was totally bungled, leaving the local population with the idea that
the Americans on the base were arrogant and not accountable to the law. The
public’s view of Americans underwent a radical and sudden transformation. A
nation once seen as generous benefactors now were seen as arrogant bullies.”
In the
wake of the May, 2013 crash of another KC-135 at Manas, similar concerns are
once again being voiced. There have been complaints that the Americans have
been “obstructing” the examination by Kyrgyz authorities of the bodies of the
servicemen killed in the crash. Although the United States is within its right
to do so, such actions nevertheless contribute to the widespread view that the U.S. is supercilious and
condescending towards its Kyrgyz counterparts. Others have gone so far as to
say the way the United States handled the crash site effectively denied Kyrgyzstan’s sovereignty over parts of its own territory. In early May, a
youth group, Zhon Ele, which has previously called for investigations into
possible human rights violations, human trafficking, and drug smuggling at
Manas, as well as into allegations that nuclear weapons targeted at Iran were
located there (allegations that have been strenuously denied), held a protest against the base in Bishkek, shouting slogans
like “Yankees, get out of Kyrgyzstan,” “Yankees, go home,” and “No to transit
of NATO weapons.” They argued that military equipment had “no place adjacent
to a civilian and international airport” and warned of the possibility that a
fuel laden tanker jet could crash into a nearby city. Others in the Kyrgyz
government have raised the spectre of American military aircraft crashing into the Chavlodar power plant, which is in the region. In an interview with
Eurasianet, Roza Otunbayeva, the former President of Kyrgyzstan, claimed that
the “whole [Kyrgyz] nation” worries of the possibility that the military base
could become a target for terrorists. The base’s very proximity to Bishkek is therefore a major concern, at least from a security standpoint.
Pressure from Russia
is another major driver of Kyrgyz concerns vis-à-vis the Transit Center at
Manas. Kyrgyzstan remains largely dependent on Russia for its military,
economic, and energy needs, and so cannot afford to ignore Moscow. As Josh Kucera at Eurasianet has pointed out, “the Kremlin has offered a huge military
aid package to Kyrgyzstan, which Russian officials have said is intended to
shore up their geopolitical position in Central Asia, at the expense of the
U.S.’s.” Kyrgyzstan is part of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty
Organization, and a Russian airbase in the city of Kant was established shortly
after the U.S. began operating out of Manas. President Atambayev, moreover,
appears to value closer ties with Russia than did his predecessors. Although he
has declared that there will be “no military equipment” at Manas after 2014 and advocated turning the airport into a civilian hub, there have
nevertheless been talks regarding the potential for developing a “joint Kyrgyzstan-Russian logistics center” at the base.
As of May 21, 2013,
Kyrgyzstan has declared that the American Transit Center at Manas will indeed
be closed by the end of 2014, as previously announced. Although some worry
that the Americans’ departure will leave a deep hole in the Kyrgyz economy, President
Atambayev has assured the public that the roughly 60 million dollars that will
leave the country will be compensated by revenue from “other projects.” Barring
any major developments, then, it would appear that Manas will indeed close
according to the schedule dictated by the Kyrgyz government. Due to ongoing corruption associated with the base, perceptions that the Transit Center is an outpost for an arrogant and dismissive American empire, and continuing pressure from Kyrgyzstan's most important ally, Russia, local views of the American presence at Manas are not positive. Aside from those deriving direct benefit from the base’s continued operation – corrupt
officials, organized crime, and regular employees who work at the base – it would
appear that few in Kyrgyzstan will mourn its demise.
