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Kyrgyzstan: Scenes from the Ongoing Turmoil
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It's now three days since anti-government protests in Kyrgyzstan started giving way to insurgency and, ultimately, the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. A relative but tenuous calm has settled over the capital, Bishkek.
Though the violence that claimed dozens of lives appears to be largely over, looting remains a concern and the politics are still in flux: Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva has seized control of the government; but Bakiyev, hiding in the southern city of Jalalabad, has yet to formally concede office. And it remains unclear how all of this will affect the U.S. lease at Manas Air Base, which the U.S. military considers crucial for the international mission in Afghanistan.
I reported on the first and second days of the crisis here at TheAtlantic.com. Yesterday's dispatch featured video footage; here below, more images from Wednesday and Thursday in the streets of Bishkek.
Though the violence that claimed dozens of lives appears to be largely over, looting remains a concern and the politics are still in flux: Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva has seized control of the government; but Bakiyev, hiding in the southern city of Jalalabad, has yet to formally concede office. And it remains unclear how all of this will affect the U.S. lease at Manas Air Base, which the U.S. military considers crucial for the international mission in Afghanistan.
I reported on the first and second days of the crisis here at TheAtlantic.com. Yesterday's dispatch featured video footage; here below, more images from Wednesday and Thursday in the streets of Bishkek.
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