The top US military official, Gen Richard Meyers, accused China and Russia of "trying to bully" smaller Central Asian countries that are hosting US troops and cooperating in the US war on terror, Reuters reported. A statement issued last week by a regional alliance led by China and Russia that urged the US to set a time table for withdrawing forces from bases in Uzbekistan and Krygyzstan, has been interpreted by analysts as a move by the two large Asian nations to push the US out of a region that Russia regards as historically important and China sees as important to its energy policy.
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