Tajikistan: Top US Military Official Explores Transit Options for Afghanistan

A senior official from US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) has begun a five-day visit to Tajikistan, Russian media outlets are reporting.

Rear Admiral Mark Harnitchek, who heads the Strategy, Policy, Programs, and Logistics Directorate at TRANSCOM -- the deployment and distribution arm of the US Department of Defense -- was expected to discuss the delivery on non-military goods to Afghanistan through Tajikistan.

Harnitchek accompanied the head of US Central Command Gen. David Petraeus on his visits to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in January. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Political analyst Arkady Dubnov, writing in Russian Vremya Novosti newspaper on February 18, wrote that Harnitchek's task in Dushanbe was to arrange a "transit [corridor] to Afghanistan via a Tajik route."