A coalition of central Asian countries — including Russia and China — have called on the U.S. to withdraw its military presence from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and to stop meddling in the domestic affairs of the region. The coalition known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization passed a declaration that read, “Considering that the active phase of the military anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan has finished, member states… consider it essential that the relevant participants in the anti-terrorist coalition set deadlines for the temporary use’ of bases in Central Asia.” The coalition’s move appeared to be an attempt to push the United States out of a region that Moscow regards as historically part of its sphere of influence and in which China seeks a dominant role because of its extensive energy resources. The U.S. has used military bases in both former Soviet Republics in the war against Afghanistan. The U.S. has also been accused of being behind recent uprisings in three former Soviet republics: Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan The President of Kazakhstan said ’There should be no place for interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.”