During their June 16 Geneva summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly offered U.S. President Joe Biden the use of Russian military bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in order to coordinate actions vis-a-vis Afghanistan.
The Kremlin’s motives, of course, are not altruistic. Russia wants to prevent the United States from building its own bases in the region. But Putin’s offer is tempting, and Biden may well find a way to accept it.
Central Asia, a region nearly the size of the European Union nestled between Russia and China, is thus back in international headlines — again because of bad news, and again in connection with the violence and instability in Afghanistan.