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OBAMA MOVES TO IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN
By ANNE GEARAN (AP)
07/06/10
BAKU
Azerbaijan - In a letter to the leader of strategically important
Azerbaijan, President Barack Obama acknowledges the difficulties in
the relationship between the two nations, but says he's confident
the issues can be resolved.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates hand delivered Obama's letter
Sunday during a meeting to improve relations with the president of
this former Soviet republic that helps move supplies and soldiers to
the U.S.-led war in landlocked Afghanistan.
Tens of thousands of war-related flights have crossed over Azerbaijan
since the Afghan war began in 2001, and last year alone about 100,000
U.S. and allied personnel passed through the country. Azerbaijan also
is part of an overland supply chain that is a critical alternative
to the primary land route through Pakistan. About one-quarter of all
war goods come through the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation.
President Ilham Aliyev has complained that he gets too little attention
from Washington and that U.S. officials have not done much to resolve
a festering ethnic conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
He is also irritated by mild U.S. criticism of his track record on
human rights, press freedom and elections.
In the letter delivered by Gates, Obama thanked Aliyev "for the
partnership between our two countries."
Obama said the decision to open Azerbaijan's roads, rails and airspace
to the Afghan war resupply effort "has further strengthened your
country's stature as a stedfast security partner."
"I am aware of the fact that there are serious issues in our
relationship, but I am confident that we can address them," Obama
wrote.
Gates met with Aliyev after attending a defense conference in
Singapore, where he told reporters that his stop in Baku was meant
to reassure the president that the United States does not take him
for granted.
"It's important to touch base and let them know they do play an
important role," said Gates, who was the highest ranking U.S. official
to visit since Obama took office in January 2009.
More high-level visits are in the offing, the Pentagon chief said.
Aliyev succeeded his long-ruling father in 2003 after an election that
the opposition said was rigged. He won a landslide re-election in 2008
that international elections monitors called flawed. A referendum last
year set him up to rule indefinitely. The country functions more as
a monarchy than a republic.
The imperatives of fighting a long war in a country without seaports
has forced the United States and NATO to cut deals with unsavory
leaders and sometimes unscrupulous businesses that get goods and
soldiers in and out.
The supply dilemma has been most apparent in Kyrgyzstan, home to an air
base that is the main air transit hub for the war, but involves deals
with other former Soviet republics and sometimes uneasy cooperation
with Russia.
Concern about creeping authoritarianism in Azerbaijan was one reason
top U.S. leaders stayed away. Aliyev's protests include postponing a
joint military exercise with the U.S. and demanding that the U.S. go
over its books to ensure Azerbaijan was properly paid for allowing
commercial overflights.
From: A. Papazian
By ANNE GEARAN (AP)
07/06/10
BAKU
Azerbaijan - In a letter to the leader of strategically important
Azerbaijan, President Barack Obama acknowledges the difficulties in
the relationship between the two nations, but says he's confident
the issues can be resolved.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates hand delivered Obama's letter
Sunday during a meeting to improve relations with the president of
this former Soviet republic that helps move supplies and soldiers to
the U.S.-led war in landlocked Afghanistan.
Tens of thousands of war-related flights have crossed over Azerbaijan
since the Afghan war began in 2001, and last year alone about 100,000
U.S. and allied personnel passed through the country. Azerbaijan also
is part of an overland supply chain that is a critical alternative
to the primary land route through Pakistan. About one-quarter of all
war goods come through the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation.
President Ilham Aliyev has complained that he gets too little attention
from Washington and that U.S. officials have not done much to resolve
a festering ethnic conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
He is also irritated by mild U.S. criticism of his track record on
human rights, press freedom and elections.
In the letter delivered by Gates, Obama thanked Aliyev "for the
partnership between our two countries."
Obama said the decision to open Azerbaijan's roads, rails and airspace
to the Afghan war resupply effort "has further strengthened your
country's stature as a stedfast security partner."
"I am aware of the fact that there are serious issues in our
relationship, but I am confident that we can address them," Obama
wrote.
Gates met with Aliyev after attending a defense conference in
Singapore, where he told reporters that his stop in Baku was meant
to reassure the president that the United States does not take him
for granted.
"It's important to touch base and let them know they do play an
important role," said Gates, who was the highest ranking U.S. official
to visit since Obama took office in January 2009.
More high-level visits are in the offing, the Pentagon chief said.
Aliyev succeeded his long-ruling father in 2003 after an election that
the opposition said was rigged. He won a landslide re-election in 2008
that international elections monitors called flawed. A referendum last
year set him up to rule indefinitely. The country functions more as
a monarchy than a republic.
The imperatives of fighting a long war in a country without seaports
has forced the United States and NATO to cut deals with unsavory
leaders and sometimes unscrupulous businesses that get goods and
soldiers in and out.
The supply dilemma has been most apparent in Kyrgyzstan, home to an air
base that is the main air transit hub for the war, but involves deals
with other former Soviet republics and sometimes uneasy cooperation
with Russia.
Concern about creeping authoritarianism in Azerbaijan was one reason
top U.S. leaders stayed away. Aliyev's protests include postponing a
joint military exercise with the U.S. and demanding that the U.S. go
over its books to ensure Azerbaijan was properly paid for allowing
commercial overflights.
From: A. Papazian