First alerted by Cannoneer No. 4, I’ve been steadily blogging about our logistical problems in Afghanistan. A refresher in simple geography: Afghanistan is landlocked with Iran and Pakistan to the south and former Soviet republics to the north. Until relatively recently, our supplies had come through the Pak and across the Khyber Pass. Problem is, Pakistan is disintegrating and the bad guys are shooting up our convoys. And they recently blew up a key bridge.
Needless to say, we need a new supply route.
Well, it appears that we’re developing a new route – through the backdoor. From today’s Moscow Times:
RIGA, Latvia — A first shipment of nonlethal goods to U.S. forces in Afghanistan is to leave soon from Latvia, an official said Wednesday, as Washington seeks new supply routes in response to the closure of a base in Kyrgyzstan.
Estonia said its ports could also be used for such traffic.
The United States needs alternative routes to supply its forces as Kyrgyzstan’s parliament is to vote on Thursday on closing the Manas air base outside the capital, Bishkek. One possible option is to ship supplies by train from Riga, the Latvian capital.
“It is nonlethal commercial goods,” said a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Latvia.
He said the shipment, of 100 containers, would leave “in the near future.”
The embassy said 20 to 30 trainloads per week could go from Latvia to Afghanistan if the route proved a success.
“I think this is a very important project, supplying American troops fulfilling their mission in Afghanistan,” Latvian Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins told reporters after talks with his Estonian counterpart, Urmas Paet.
Paet said Estonia could send such shipments too.
An official at the container terminal at the Riga port said the shipment would leave very soon but declined to give further details, as it was a military cargo. He said the route would go via Russia and then through Central Asia.
To get some idea of the new geography, Latvia and Estonia are Baltic republics on Russia’s western border. Supply trains will have to traverse three-quarters of Russia, which is the largest country on earth and spans 11 time zones.
And 20 to 30 trainloads a week is a lot of beans.
Meanwhile, the Moscow Times is also reporting that the Kyrgyzstan parlament is apparently wasting no time in closing Manas, AFB.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan’s parliament said Tuesday that it will vote this week on a bill to close a U.S. air base that provides key support to military operations in Afghanistan, while the top U.S. commander for the region visited Uzbekistan in search of new supply routes for forces fighting the Taliban.
President Barack Obama’s call for an increased military focus on Afghanistan could be hampered both by the potential closure of the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan and increased attacks on the main land route for supplies through Pakistan.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev unexpectedly called this month for the closure of the Manas base, a transit point for 15,000 troops and 500 tons of cargo each month to and from Afghanistan. It also is a base for military refueling planes.
The decision is expected to easily pass parliament, which is dominated by the president’s party.
A vote had not been expected until March, which would have given Washington more time to try to change Bakiyev’s mind. But the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday approved the order and set a Thursday vote for the lower house.
Russia is, of course, behind the closure of Manas. Yet, they’re willing to allow us to ship materiel across Russia. The geopolitics are fairly straightforward. The Russians are perfectly happy to have us fighting the Taliban. They’ve had their own problems with jihadists, as we all know.
But they’re also devotees of the Great Game, and they don’t want us to create a totally independent presence in Central Asia. As long as they can control our logistics, they control Central Asia.
And at this point, we have no choice in the matter.
