Uzbekistan is squeezing Washington for more money to transport military supplies along the Northern Distribution Network (NDN). On February 1, just days after Uzbek leader Islam Karimov met with NATO representatives in Brussels, Tashkent announced it was raising transit fees for goods headed for Afghanistan via Uzbek railroads.
Georgia leads all countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia in the money it spends on lobbyists in Washington, DC, according to a review of US government records.
The US Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General (DoD OIG) is conducting an audit of transit operations on the Northern Distribution Network.
The governments of Kyrgyzstan and the United States are set to sign an amendment to the Manas Transit Center’s leasing agreement that will enable the purchases of aviation fuel directly from a Kyrgyz state-owned enterprise.
Amid ongoing protests in Egypt, a US State Department warning about a terrorist threat “against American interests” in Azerbaijan has placed the government in Baku in an awkward situation. Senior members of the governing Yeni Azerbaijan Party have criticized the US action, while law enforcement agencies have questioned the basis for the alert.
In a boost for Kyrgyzstan’s economic revival efforts, Russia has abolished an export tax on fuel. Imposed during the last days of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s administration, the Russian fuel tariff was widely seen as a trigger for political upheaval that buffeted Kyrgyzstan in 2010.
A new tax dispute over fuel supplies at a strategically important air base in Kyrgyzstan is looming. US diplomats are concerned that potential wrangling could impede the war effort in Afghanistan.
Despite its long-avowed status as a neutral nation, Turkmenistan is playing an important supporting role for US and NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan. Washington and Ashgabat are both keen to keep Turkmenistan’s strategic role low-key, especially the financial aspects of cooperation.
Mina Corp, the controversial aviation fuel supplier to the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan, is hitting back at official allegations of corrupt ties to the family of ex-president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Experts in Baku are welcoming US President Barack Obama’s decision to appoint longtime Caucasus hand Matthew Bryza as ambassador to Azerbaijan. But many are cautioning that Bryza’s arrival is unlikely to break existing diplomatic logjams.
