Washington is planning to construct a new military training center in Tajikistan, the strategic country located between flailing Kyrgyzstan and failed Afghanistan, AFP reports, citing US Ambassador Ken Gross.
"The plan ... is almost 10 million dollars to build this national training centre for the Tajik armed forces," Ken Gross told journalists at a briefing in the capital, Dushanbe.
Gross said the facility would be run by the Tajik national guards' service and no US troops would be based there, though he said US military personnel could be brought in to assist in training.
"If requested, we might have people come in to help in training missions," the US envoy said.
Though the deal has yet to be inked, the facility is slated to open next year.
Central Asia-watchers will be eager to see what jealous older brother Russia, which already operates three bases for its 201st Motor Rifle Division in Tajikistan, will want in exchange for America stepping further into its “sphere of interest.”
Russian state media went feral when the US proposed a training center -- for half the price of the proposed Tajik one -- in southern Kyrgyzstan this March.
David Trilling is Eurasianet’s managing editor.
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