US intervention in Kyrgyzstan
A massive uprising rocked Kyrgyzstan in the last week of March, toppling the government of Askar Akayev and installing Kurmanbek Bakiyev as the country's new president.
Widespread anger over the Akayev government's corruption spurred the people's revolt. But like other uprisings in the last few years in countries that formerly belonged to the Soviet Union, US imperialism's hand was quite visible in Kyrgyzstan's change of regime.
US intervention in Kyrgyzstan was not unlike US meddling in Georgia's "Rose Revolution" in 2003 and Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" in 2004�two countries which were formerly part of the defunct USSR. Akayev disclosed that he was deposed by a "Third Force" composed of financiers of illegal drug syndicates based along Kyrgyzstan's border with other Central Asian countries. Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan, which was part of the former Soviet Union, is found in the southern part of Central Asia. Its capital is the city of Bishkek. It may be recalled that the term "Third Force" was also used in covert US operations to effect regime change in South Africa, Iran, Georgia and Ukraine. "Third Force" was also the name used by a group of Right-wing mercenary death squads in Latin America that killed thousands of people opposed to US puppets in the region.
Just as it did in its interventions in other parts of the world, the US exploited the Kirghiz people's anger over the Akayev government's corruption and encouraged them to replace it. The US' objective was to install a government that would be more staunchly supportive of US policies.
One of the more prominent players in Kyrgyzstan's regime change was Freedom House, an organization headed by former CIA director James Woolsey. It was also the major sponsor of Ukraine's "Orange Revolution". Before the change of government in Kyrgyzstan, Freedom House published 60 opposition magazines and newspapers. It also funded opposition TV and radio networks. In 2004, the US poured up to $13.3 million into NGOs like the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, which actively participated in toppling the Akayev regime.
Kyrgyzstan's strategic position makes it extremely important for US imperialism to maintain a puppet regime in the country. The US has a military base near Kyrgyzstan's border with China from which the US launched its attacks on Afghanistan in 2001. Because of its importance to the US, Kyrgyzstan is the biggest recipient of US aid in Central Asia. The US has provided up to $746 million in aid since 1992, and in 2004 alone poured $31 million under the "Freedom Support Act" to fund alleged pro-democracy groups and institutions.
The country also possesses large oil reserves and is rich in minerals like gold and copper, aside from having extensive poppy plantations. Opium, which is derived from the poppy plant, is big business in Central Asia. A large part of Kyrgyzstan's population also professes Muslim fundamentalist beliefs and has for a time lent support to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Despite public censure by the US of both Islamic fundamentalists and opium traders, it has never hesitated to fund and use them covertly to advance US interests in the region.
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