THE PATH VIA RUSSIA IS NOT SUITABLE FOR AMERICANS
by Olga Allenova

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
December 15, 2008 Monday
Russia

The US is seeking alternative routes to Afghanistan

PENTAGON IS WORKING OUT AN ALTERNATIVE ROUTE FOR DELIVERY OF CARGOES TO
AFGHANISTAN BYPASSING RUSSIA; Afghan television channel Lemar reported
with reference to top-ranking sources in Pentagon that the US was
considering an option of the so-called Afghan transit via Georgia,
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. According to Western experts,
such transit will enable the US and NATO to accomplish the operation
in Afghanistan successfully without the assistance of Russia and to
gain a foothold in the countries of the Caspian Basin.

Afghan television channel Lemar reported with reference to top-ranking
sources in Pentagon that the US was considering an option of the
so-called Afghan transit via Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan. According to Western experts, such transit will enable the
US and NATO to accomplish the operation in Afghanistan successfully
without the assistance of Russia and to gain a foothold in the
countries of the Caspian Basin.

Admiral Mullen partially confirmed this information. He stated, "We
took a lot of effort to work out other routes to deliver supplies to
the troops. We achieved serious success in this direction."

Andrei Serenko, expert of the center for studying of contemporary
Afghanistan, reported, "At present, Americans have only two routes to
Afghanistan: via Peshawar and via Kandahar. However, the throughput
capacity of the route via Kandahar is not very big. Besides, it is
not very safe, leaving apart the fact that it is assigned to the
British. Bearing in mind that the price that Russia may set is giving
up of the AMD deployment in Eastern Europe, the US needs a new route."

Observers in Brussels have been speaking about negotiations with Russia
on opening the ground transit to Afghanistan for a long time. This
very factor became one of the main reasons for unfreezing of relations
with Russia at the latest meeting of the foreign ministers of the
NATO member states. Serenko said, "The operation in Afghanistan is
one of the main tasks of Washington now. Elections will take place
in Afghanistan in May and, bearing in mind the existence of strong
opposition to President Hamid Karzai, not the pro-American forces may
ascend to power. This will mean that the difficult and long operation
in Afghanistan has been fruitless. That is why it is important for
Washington to conduct a ground operation and to "wipe off" the Talibs
by May."

At any rate, even if the efforts of NATO turn out to be successful
and Russia decides to sign a general agreement with the alliance,
this will not solve the problem. The air transit is expensive and its
capacity is not very big. Besides, the alliance will hardly be content
with dependence on the stance of Moscow. Expert Serenko explains,
"Russia has already shown that some day it may insert troops into
another state. Hence, it may block the transit for NATO too. That is
why NATO will wish to be on the safe side and open a new route."

Negotiations conducted in the Central Asia by officials of the US
administration confirm existence of the new project too. Their results
are already obvious: last week the parliament of Kazakhstan ratified
the memorandum on support of the operation in Afghanistan. These
documents enable the US to use the military part of the airport of
Alma-Ata as a reserve airfield for emergency landings for military
airplanes flying to Afghanistan.

The parliament of Georgia confirmed negotiations on the new Afghan
route too. One of the parliament members from the ruling national
movement of Georgia stated, "The port in Poti is strategically
important for our Western allies. It is possible to deliver
cargoes from Poti to Azerbaijan and from there to Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan. However, as I know, the fundamental agreement of Azerbaijan
with this project has not been received yet."

Azerbaijani political scientists state, "Such negotiations may take
place and the price of the agreement of Azerbaijan is settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem." Azerbaijani parliament member Anar
Mamedkhanov remarked, "Azerbaijan has beneficial geographic location
and it will use it for its national interests, first of all, for
solving of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem."