Kyrgyzstan gives US 1 year to close base
Source: Agencies |
June 21, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
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KYRGYZSTAN yesterday gave the United States until July next year to shut its air force base at Manas, a staging post for US troops and supplies in the Afghanistan conflict but now deemed unnecessary as foreign forces pull out.
Troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are preparing to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, ending a costly and increasingly unpopular war launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks by al-Qaida on US cities.
The Manas Transit Center outside the capital, Bishkek, which numbers about 1,000 US servicemen, has been in operation since the end of 2001.
The Kyrgyz government said prior to a vote in parliament: "Further functioning of this facility is unnecessary."
Parliament passed the law by 91 votes to five, setting a deadline of July 11, 2014, for the base to close.
Russia secured an extension of the lease of its own air base in Kyrgyzstan last September.
In the wake of the 2001 attacks, Moscow said it had no objections to the United States and its allies using Central Asia for deployment and transit of their troops and cargo to neighboring Afghanistan.
But the Kremlin later became wary of the growing foreign military presence in a region once its imperial backyard.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, elected in 2011, is relying on closer ties with Russia and repeatedly assured Moscow that the US air base would be shut.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to write off nearly US$500 million in debt from Kyrgyzstan in exchange for a package of deals that extended Moscow's foothold in the nation. This included a 15-year extension to Russia's lease of a military air base.
Troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are preparing to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, ending a costly and increasingly unpopular war launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks by al-Qaida on US cities.
The Manas Transit Center outside the capital, Bishkek, which numbers about 1,000 US servicemen, has been in operation since the end of 2001.
The Kyrgyz government said prior to a vote in parliament: "Further functioning of this facility is unnecessary."
Parliament passed the law by 91 votes to five, setting a deadline of July 11, 2014, for the base to close.
Russia secured an extension of the lease of its own air base in Kyrgyzstan last September.
In the wake of the 2001 attacks, Moscow said it had no objections to the United States and its allies using Central Asia for deployment and transit of their troops and cargo to neighboring Afghanistan.
But the Kremlin later became wary of the growing foreign military presence in a region once its imperial backyard.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, elected in 2011, is relying on closer ties with Russia and repeatedly assured Moscow that the US air base would be shut.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to write off nearly US$500 million in debt from Kyrgyzstan in exchange for a package of deals that extended Moscow's foothold in the nation. This included a 15-year extension to Russia's lease of a military air base.
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