Kyrgyzstan has become subject to both ethnic unrest and armed conflict between the ruling elites and Islamic groups. It is not, therefore, surprising that the corrupt and autocratic rulers of the Central Asian Muslim country have allowed both Russia and the US to maintain troops there as part of the international ‘war against terrorism'.
The Muslims who had the courage to storm government offices and force president Askar Aliyev to flee Kyrgyzstan in March deserve better leaders than those replacing him after the election held on July 10. Both the new president, Kurmanbek Bakayev, and the prime minister, Felix Kulov, a former KGB officer, served as times in the Akayev government–sharing Akayev's subservience to Russia and animosity to Islam and Islamic activists, and displaying their readiness to live with corruption and practise it.
