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Jeu de Go en Asie Centrale:

US steps up its Central Asian tango
By M K Bhadrakumar Aug 25, 2009 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/KH25Ag02.html

With the signing of military agreement between the United States and Uzbekistan at Tashkent last Thursday by the US Central Command chief General David Petraeus and Uzbek Defense Minister Kabul Berdiyev, Uzbekistan’s geopolitical positioning has phenomenally shifted.
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The robust US regional diplomacy in Central Asia has succeeded in weaning away Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan from Russian influence. Washington has negotiated transit corridor agreements with them and begun stationing military personnel in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. (The deputy chief of general staff of the British armed forces, Jeff Mason, is currently visiting Ashgabat.) The US is promoting Turkmen-Uzbek amity (Karimov is preparing to visit Ashgabat). Washington has held out economic and business opportunities in the Afghan reconstruction. Last but not the least, the US is fostering NATO’s ties with these countries
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Writing for the New York Times, Andrew Kuchins of the Center for Strategic and International Studies recently underscored that skepticism of Russian intentions - “how much Russia wants to see the US succeed in Afghanistan” - runs high in Washington.

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