Back to the Great Game

Only a couple of weeks ago the head of U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus, appeared very sure that the U.S. air base at Manas in Kyrgyzstan, which has a vital logistical importance for the American and NATO forces in Aghanistan, would not be closed down.(1) However, it looks like the Krygyzstan government has long since decided to do just that(2) and it would appear that the "hope and change" man is not going to have it all his own way when he comes to upping the stakes in the Hindukush. With Russia and Tajikistan only offering airspace for the transport of non-military equipment to Afghanistan, with Uzbekistan having expelled U.S. troops from the base on its territory in 2005 in a dispute over human rights issues and with the Taliban attacks forcing Pakistan to close supply routes to U.S. and NATO forces one wonders how the "hope and change" man is going to do anything but maim and murder innocent Afghanis, while sacrificing young Americans. The portents are surely obvious for "Uncle Sam" and his cohorts, the Great Game cannot be won, but then it never could.
1http://wavy.com/dpp/news/military_ap_Kyrgyzstan_USGeneralBaseNotClose_20090119
2 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/20092673655553460.html