(국제) 중앙 아시아 친미 국가 붕괴
(국제) 중앙 아시아 친미 국가 붕괴
A state of emergency for a key American ally. What it could mean for the US war effort. There’s news from overseas tonight. There’s been a change of government in a country not that many Americans can find in a map of the world. But it’s a key US ally in the war in Afghanistan. It appears that protestors in the central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan have overthrown the government after riot police opened fire on them earlier today. NBC’s chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell explains what’s happening there tonight.
It was open warfare in the streets of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital. Thousands of protestors, many armed only with stones, seizing an armored vehicle, storming government buildings. being fired on by government troops and firing back. The opposition says as many as 100 protestors were killed. Hundreds more wounded. A rebellion반항 반란 against the tightening leap급증 of political and economic controls, finally triggered by a 200% increase in charges for heat and electricity. By the end of the day, protestors had freed their leaders from jail and taken over state-run TV.
The principle target of the bloody uprising hard line President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, a US ally of convenience. That’s because this airbase at Monads is the main transit point for US and NATO troops and supplies into Afghanistan. In fact when Bakiyev’s government threatened to evict쫒아내다 the US from the base last year, the Obama administration nearly quadrupled네 배로 하다 its annual rent to $60 million on top of $90 million in aid. Without this base, the US would have to rely heavily on land routes including the torturous고통스러운 and dangerous Khyber Pass.
“I think the airbase is absolutely vital. We put $15,000 troops a month through that base supporting the ongoing operations in Afghanistan.” Even so only last month the State Department’s annual human rights report accused Bakiyev’s government of arbitrary독단적인 임의의 killing, torture고문, trafficking in persons and child labor among other abuses. Tonight the rebels say that the President has fled the capital and that they have control of the city. US officials say it would not be surprising if they are dealing with a new government. And it could be a government no longer willing to let the United States use that airbase. Brian? Andrea Mitchell in our Washington newsroom tonight. Andrea, thanks for that.