The United States and Tajikistan have agreed a deal on the transit of non-military cargoes for Western operations in Afghanistan, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said Tuesday. "Yes, it's done," Boucher said in response to a question about the long-expected transit deal with the ex-Soviet republic that neighbours Afghanistan.
The transit of cargoes destined to support Western troops in Afghanistan could begin as soon as one month from now, Boucher said during a visit to the Tajik capital. Washington has been seeking new routes for supplies to Afghanistan after Kyrgyzstan announced earlier this year that it was closing a key US airbase, and amid increasing instability along the main transit route through Pakistan.
Kyrgyzstan voted to oust coalition forces from the US airbase at Manas after receiving more than two billion dollars in loan and aid guarantees from Moscow, which had been irked by the US military presence in Central Asia.
Boucher said Washington was not actively looking for any long-term military bases in Central Asia, a region that Moscow regards as its backyard. "The operations we've conducted in Manas we could do elsewhere. We're not particularly looking for some other base in the region. We'll see how it works out," Boucher said.
US President Barack Obama has made winning the war in Afghanistan a key part of his foreign policy, and the Kyrgyz base closure set off a flurry of diplomatic activity as Washington sought alternate transit routes. The United States has now inked deals for the transit of non-lethal cargo with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Around 70,000 international troops are struggling to put down a tenacious Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan in a war that began shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.