Indo-US ties may cost India its Tajik military base

Mumbai: India is likely to lose its fledgling overseas military facility, at Ayni air base near Tajikistan`s capital Dushanbe, under pressure from Russia.

Senior defence officials said Mosow, which is concerned over New Delhi''s growing ties with Washington, is using its considerable influence with Tajikistan to try and terminate New Delhi`s "loose arrangement" regarding Ayni if it declined to be "co-operative".

India''s Border Roads Organisation had revamped the Ayni military base, 15 km from Dushanbe, for around $1.77 million earlier this year, nearly 24 months behind schedule, under a bilateral defence agreement with Tajikistan.

In July, Tajik foreign minister Hamrahon Zaripov declared that his government was not negotiating a deal permitting New Delhi to set up a military base at Ayni, reportedly under pressure from Moscow.

India, he admitted, had helped rehabilitate the Ayni airfield, but this did not provide for basing facilities.

Thereafter, there has been no formal communication to New Delhi from Tajikistan to withdraw from Ayni some 150 Indian military engineers, workers and defence personnel that comprise the base`s maintenance squad as well as its training team engaged in instructing the Tajik air force.

The defence ministry, meanwhile, is awaiting a direction from the cabinet committee on security (CCS) headed by prime minister Manmohan Singh to officially begin operations from the base.

The ministry had reportedly asked the CCS for a "formal mandate" on force levels before the Indian Air Force (IAF) transferred some of its assets to Ayni as part of a move to augment its "strategic reach" in a troubled area.

Ayni also serves as a conduit for India to send aid to war-torn Afghanistan as access via Pakistan is prohibited by Islamabad.

"This (Russian pressure) appears to be a ploy for more concessions and indulgence from India," a senior military officer associated with the Central Asian Region said, adding, its Moscow`s way of telling New Delhi not to "stray" into the American military hardware camp.

India buys defence equipment worth over $1,500 million with Russia every year. Since the 1960`s India has acquired Soviet and Russian military equipment worth over $30 billion.

Defence planners anticipate purchases of over $40 billion over the next decade from Russia to replace or upgrade India`s predominantly Soviet and Russian defence equipment.

Moscow seems to be wary of competition from other suppliers, particularly the US, in support of IAF`s latest requirement of 126 multi-role combat aircraft, they point out.

Russia is also trying to renegotiate its $85 billion Sukhoi 30MkI multi-role fighter deal by demanding a higher price for the timely delivery of the combat aircraft with the agreed specifications.