Kyrgyz leader: Shut US air base
Source: Agencies |
November 2, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
KYRGYZSTAN'S presidential election winner said yesterday that the United States air base needs to close by 2014 because its presence on Kyrgyz soil puts the former Soviet nation at risk of retaliatory strikes from those in conflict with the US.
Almazbek Atambayev, who won over 60 percent of ballots in Sunday's vote, said Kyrgyzstan will honor a contract allowing the US lease of the base at Manas through mid-2014.
The US has used Manas, which is situated within the country's main civilian airport, as a key logistical hub for operations in nearby Afghanistan since 2001.
"We know that the US is often engaged in conflict. First in Iraq, then in Afghanistan, and now relations are tense with Iran," he said. "I would not want for one of these countries to launch a retaliatory strike on the military base."
The base is subject of frequently extravagant rumors among local residents and politicians, who maintain that fuel dumps by US planes devastate crops and cause illnesses. US military officials have always strenuously denied such claims and say they make every effort to minimize their impact on the area surrounding the base.
Atambayev and other Kyrgyz officials have made similar statements in the past, warning that the US base must close by 2014.
Asked to comment on Atambayev's views, the base spokesman, US Air Force Major Bob Everdeen said that beyond the current term of the lease agreement "we wouldn't speculate on the future."
Russia also has a military base in the Central Asian nation on China's mountainous western fringes. Atambayev did not say anything about that base.
Outgoing President Roza Otunbayeva, who has been running the country since April 2010, when former authoritarian leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown in a popular uprising, will step down for 55-year old Atambayev, setting the stage for the first peaceful transition of power in the country's turbulent post-independence history.
Almazbek Atambayev, who won over 60 percent of ballots in Sunday's vote, said Kyrgyzstan will honor a contract allowing the US lease of the base at Manas through mid-2014.
The US has used Manas, which is situated within the country's main civilian airport, as a key logistical hub for operations in nearby Afghanistan since 2001.
"We know that the US is often engaged in conflict. First in Iraq, then in Afghanistan, and now relations are tense with Iran," he said. "I would not want for one of these countries to launch a retaliatory strike on the military base."
The base is subject of frequently extravagant rumors among local residents and politicians, who maintain that fuel dumps by US planes devastate crops and cause illnesses. US military officials have always strenuously denied such claims and say they make every effort to minimize their impact on the area surrounding the base.
Atambayev and other Kyrgyz officials have made similar statements in the past, warning that the US base must close by 2014.
Asked to comment on Atambayev's views, the base spokesman, US Air Force Major Bob Everdeen said that beyond the current term of the lease agreement "we wouldn't speculate on the future."
Russia also has a military base in the Central Asian nation on China's mountainous western fringes. Atambayev did not say anything about that base.
Outgoing President Roza Otunbayeva, who has been running the country since April 2010, when former authoritarian leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown in a popular uprising, will step down for 55-year old Atambayev, setting the stage for the first peaceful transition of power in the country's turbulent post-independence history.
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