Supply routes to Afghanistan

[davidbfpo]

Undoubtedly Sec. of Defence Leon Panetta's visit to the region led to these two NYT stories, but I do wonder if someone is adroitly coordinating the diplomatic process.

First:

One of Kyrgyzstan’s top defense officials told Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Tuesday that a crucial United States air base (Manas) here should have “no military mission” when its lease expires a little more than two years from now. The request creates a potential hurdle to American plans to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014.

Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/wo...html?ref=world

Then:

The Kremlin expressed willingness on Wednesday to allow NATO to use an airfield (Ulyanovsk) in the heart of European Russia, in a city best known as Lenin’s birthplace, as a transit center for moving troops and “nonlethal” cargo into Afghanistan.

Some comments by the Russian minister on why the West should remain in Afghanistan too.

Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/wo...nsit.html?_r=1