Was there any doubt after the Uzbeks demanded recently that the US pull American forces out of Uzbekistan within six months? Just to be certain, the Uzbekistan parliament voted Friday to demand the withdrawal of US troops from K-2 Air Base. Said Nuriddin Zainiyv, governor of the Kashkadar Region, “Wherever American bases crop up, so does a fundamentalist mood and so do enemies of America, and we don’t want to be caught between the two.”
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.