Following the escalation of tensions between Moscow and Washington, US officials have said that the United States intends to deploy troops to countries near the Russian border after leaving Afghanistan.
In the wake of escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow, some reports suggest that the United States is seeking to redeploy troops withdrawing from Afghanistan near the Russian border.
As the security situation in Afghanistan improved compared to the time of Washington’s invasion in 2001, the United States and NATO began withdrawing from Afghanistan on May 1, the Russian news agency Sputnik reported.
The United States prefers to withdraw its troops and military equipment after leaving Afghanistan in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing informed government and military officials, citing the beginning of the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan establish two former Soviet republics bordering Afghanistan to the north.
The paper went on to say, however, that Russia’s military presence in the region and China’s growing influence would complicate US plans to establish itself in Central Asia.
According to Sputnik, Tajikistan is a full member of the Russian Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) coalition, and Uzbekistan, which suspended its membership in 2012, has maintained strong economic and security ties with Moscow.
Zalmai Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghanistan, traveled to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan last week, apparently to discuss the need to prevent escalating violence in Afghanistan before the complete withdrawal of US and coalition troops from Afghanistan. The country has been negotiating until the deadline of September 11, 2021.
According to the report, the United States also had significant military installations at Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Air Base between 2001 and 2014, using it to transport troops to and from Afghanistan.
Kyrgyz officials have been pushing for the closure of the base, and in 2011, then-Kyrgyz President Almasbek Atambayev promised to close the base in 2014.
According to the report, US officials told the Wall Street Journal that US forces could be redeployed to one or more US military installations in the Persian Gulf in addition to Central Asia.
The largest US military base in West Asia is located in Doha, Qatar, and has more than 10 US military facilities in other countries in the region, including Kuwait and Oman.