The United States is reportedly going to spend some $240 on building military facilities in Central Asian countries including Turkmenistan. However, Ashgabat has kept silent about the reports by Russian media.
Afghanistan’s local media are also reporting that Pentagon is building a military base in Pakistan’s tribal region of Kurram near Afghanistan’s border.
Reports on the US attempts to boost its military presence in the region are circulating around although Washington has promised to pull its forces out of Afghanistan under an agreement with Afghanistan’s Taliban.
Following the Pentagon's announcement of the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan in April, Gen Kenneth F. McKenzie. Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) told reporters that the US didn’t have any agreements with Afghanistan’s neighbors to station its troops there, but he said he was hoping to make such deals with them before the withdrawal of forces from neighboring Afghanistan.
Washington has kept its military presence in Afghanistan under the excuse of fighting terrorist groups and establishing peace in the country. A closer look at the current situation shows that the US presence has not only failed to bring stability and security to the people of Afghanistan, but the United States and its Western allies have secretly backed terrorist groups to increase their destabilizing activities in line with their geopolitical interests.
In the meantime, there are reports indicating that the US is trying to solidify its presence in Afghanistan contrary to what has been declared as withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan in accordance with Doha agreement with the Taliban. Washington is also reported to have been trying to increase its military presence in Central Asia along with China’s western borders.
Washington is increasing its military presence in Central Asia not for the sake of the centrality of the region, but it is due to Washington’s foreign policy priorities and relations in the vicinity of that region.
Now that the US is ostensibly diminishing its presence in Afghanistan, it needs to redefine its foreign policy priorities and interests, especially when Russia is also seeking to increase its influence in its traditional backyard along with its southern borders.
In addition to trying to reduce Russia's influence in Central Asian countries, the Americans are also seeking to reduce China's influence as its biggest economic rival.
According to observers who monitor Chia’s moves, the country’s huge investments as part of the "One Road - One Belt" initiative, most of which is going to take place in Central Asian countries, the rising superpower is seeking to replace Washington in leading the new world trade order. For this, the American presence in the Central Asian countries in the east of the Caspian Sea could be an attempt to prevent Beijing from implementing its economic agenda.
Consequently, Washington thinks the best way to contain China’s rising economic influence, as well as Russia’s increasing influence in its own southern neighbors, is through an increased military presence in the region.
By increasing military presence in Central Asian countries, the Americans have always sought to create instability and insecurity on China's western borders by backing militarily and financing terrorist and separatist groups, so that they can put hurdles ahead of regional countries in an attempt to prevent Russian and Chinese from making their wishes true.
Furthermore, an increased military presence on Iran’s borders and destabilizing activities in the vicinity of Iran has always been on the US agenda to increase pressures against Tehran.