Gates' main concentration - or at least that of most immediate importance - was on the expanding war in South Asia, where he will soon have 100,000 U.S. troops serving with another 50,000 NATO forces.
Western and local reports have recently divulged that 25 percent of U.S. and NATO supplies and equipment for the Afghan war pass through what is referred to as the Caucasus Spur - Azerbaijan and Georgia - and that "100,000 troops have flown through Azerbaijani airspace in the past year en route to Afghanistan." [7]
More specifically, "Tens of thousands of cargo aircraft have flown over Azerbaijan for the Afghan war, with planes ferrying 100,000 US and allied troops and personnel through the country's airspace last year, Pentagon officials said." [8]
With the recent turmoil in Kyrgyzstan hampering the transit of troops and equipment through the Central Asian country where hundreds of thousands of U.S. and NATO forces have passed directly to Afghanistan, Azerbaijan (in addition to Kazakhstan [9]) will play an even more pivotal role as the battle for Afghanistan's Kandahar Province begins.
While in Baku, Gates delivered a personal letter from President Barack Obama to his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev. As the local press described it, "Gates, the most senior U.S. official to visit Azerbaijan since Obama took office last year, hand delivered the letter to Aliyev to make clear 'we have a relationship going forward,' a senior defense official said...." [10]
Obama commended his opposite number for doubling the amount of troops deployed to Afghanistan and providing the use of his nation's land (for supply trucks) and air space, especially ahead of the next surge of 30,000 U.S. troops.
An Azeri news agency reminded its readers that "Azerbaijan is also a major oil producer and a key hub on a route for Central Asia and Caspian Sea energy to Europe bypassing Russia to the north and Iran to the south," while quoting the following from Obama's letter: "Azerbaijan's leadership in the development for a Southern Corridor for energy has also increased regional prosperity and enhanced global energy security." [11]
Gates told Azerbaijan's defense minister that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would also be visiting the nation shortly.
Last month an Azerbaijani delegation visited Afghanistan to meet with the nation's defense minister and NATO International Security Assistance Force commanders, during which "the education of Afghan national policemen,
soldiers and officers in Azerbaijan" was discussed. [12] In early May U.S. military officers arrived in Baku to "hold seminars related to the tasks of operational officers at the battalion and brigade [levels]. [13] The month before Azerbaijani troops began "a communication course in San Antonio, USA from April 21 to December 15." [14]
In April Robert Simmons, the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Security Cooperation and Partnership [15], was in Baku to promote Azerbaijan's Individual Partnership Action Plan. In the same month it was announced that the bloc's chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is to visit this summer.
Since January of 2009 Romania has been the NATO Contact Point Embassy in Azerbaijan and its ambassador to the country, Nicolae Ureche, the Brussels-based military bloc's main liaison there. In early May he opened a conference in Baku titled NATO's Role in Ensuring Security and Stability in
Europe and in the Strategic Arena, dedicated to NATO 61st anniversary and the 16th of Azerbaijan joining the bloc's Partnership for Peace program.
The preceding month the Romanian envoy gave a speech in Baku in which he stated that "In connection with the 61st anniversary of NATO, the NATO Institute of Cooperation and embassies of the NATO member-states accredited in Azerbaijan have declared April NATO Month in Azerbaijan." [16] During his presentation Ureche "especially emphasized NATO's attention to energy security." [17] A week before he said, "We...welcome Azerbaijan's role in ensuring global energy security." [18]
That sentiment was echoed last week when Special Envoy of the United States Secretary of State for Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar spoke at the 17th International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference held in the capital of Azerbaijan and confirmed that Washington "support[s] the diversification of energy exports from the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia" and - American that he is - presumed to speak on behalf of Europe's energy security, endorsing the anti-Russian Southern Corridor to transport natural gas and oil from the Caspian Sea Basin and the Middle East to Europe. [19]
The preceding month Morningstar's fellow Foggy Bottom denizen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Tina Kaidanow, was in Azerbaijan. While there her message to the nation's leaders was: "The United States considers Azerbaijan an essential partner. Our interests overlap in many areas, from collaborating on strengthening energy security via the Southern Corridor gas and oil projects to our work together countering terrorism and extremism. We appreciate Azerbaijan's contributions to regional and global security, from Kosovo to Iraq to Afghanistan." [20] Kaidanow took over her current post last August from Matthew Bryza, arguably a contender for Washington's main point man in the former Soviet Union over the past two decades. His resume includes:
- Being attached to the U.S. embassy in Poland from 1989-1991 as contact person for Solidarnosc
- Serving at the U.S. embassy in Russia during the equally key transitional years of 1995-1997 with his main assignments being the Russian parliament, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the North Caucasus, especially then tense Dagestan
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