This is not good, at all:
The U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban suffered two logistical blows Tuesday as the president of Kyrgyzstan announced that he’d shut a U.S. airbase in his country and insurgents in Pakistan blew up a bridge, disrupting the main U.S. supply route into Afghanistan.
The developments were the latest reminders of the vulnerability of the long and complex transportation system on which the 60,000 U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan depend for fuel, ammunition, construction materials and a great deal more.
The announcement by Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev that he will close the Manas Air Base also gave President Barack Obama a first taste of the challenge he faces from Russia, which is trying to restore its clout in countries that were part of the former Soviet Union.
Bakiyev made his announcement in Moscow, not in his own capital, shortly after the Russian government reportedly agreed to lend Kyrgyzstan $2 billion, write off $180 million in debt and add another $150 million in aid. The timing and place of the announcement indicated the Kremlin’s involvement.
“It’s a direct challenge to the new American administration. Russia is going out of its way to close an American base,” said Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based military analyst.
via McClatchy Washington Bureau — U.S. supply routes to Afghanistan suffer two huge blows.
I tend to agree with Ed Morrissey who writes:
The problem was never in Krygyzstan. Biden predicted that world leaders would challenge Obama and his inexperience within the first few months of the adminstration, but they’ve already started to line up in the first few days. Iran launched a satellite on an ICBM to show they could go ballistic once they have nuclear weapons. North Korea reportedly has set up another ICBM for a test to threaten Seoul. Now Russia has flipped an ally in the war on terror — and all of this in the first 14 days of Obama’s presidency.
Indeed, I believe this is simply Russia trying to test Obama, to see how he will react. Also, Russia is having problems with it’s people. They are bit angry about the problems with the economy. As I so blogged about yesterday. It could very well be that Putin is attempting to save face with the citizens of Russia by trying to show a little aggression towards Obama and by proxy; America.