FEB. 27 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – British ministers flew to Central Asia this week to secure military exit routes from Afghanistan.
Starting in 2014 NATO wants to withdraw kit from Afghanistan. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, spent days in Central Asia last year hatching deals to secure the US exit.
Now the British are ramping up their effort. They plan to withdraw an estimated 11,000 containers and 3,000 vehicles from Afghanistan.
Building on low-key trips by military commanders to Central Asia last year, Philip Hammond, British minister for defence, visited Astana and Tashkent. In Kazakhstan he secured an agreement for British flights through Kazakh airspace and started talks on a land access deal.
After Astana, Mr Hammond visited the Uzbek government in Tashkent, a more controversial partner in the NATO logistics route because of its alleged human rights abuses. He left his more junior colleague Nick Harvey, minister for the Armed Forces, to journey to Bishkek, Ashgabat and Dushanbe. An indication, perhaps, of priorities.
In the 19th century British military officers played a Great Game of cat and mouse with their Russian rivals in Central Asia.
Their mission then was to impede Russia’s advance into Afghanistan and beyond to India. Britain’s new Great Game is to secure an exit for its own military from Afghanistan through Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 079, published on March 1 2012)
