US not to Leave Kyrgyzstan Quietly
A US serviceman at the Manas airbase
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The United States is looking for alternatives to win back its airbase in Kyrgyzstan after Bishkek moved to close the vital facility.
“We continue to consider what we might be able to offer the Kyrgyz government,” AFP quoted the US Defense Department as responding to a Kyrgyz decision to close the Manas airbase.
The announcement came after the Kyrgyz parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in support of government calls for the closure.
The US opened the Manas airbase in 2001 as a stopover for coalition troops, hardware and supplies bound for Afghanistan. The base also served as a ‘resort’ for US-led troops in war-torn Afghanistan.
Speaking after reports of the murder of a Kyrgyz national at the hands of the US military, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced that the Manas closure would be in the best interests of Kyrgyz sovereignty.
“Two years ago an American soldier killed a Kyrgyz driver… This made the American presence in the Kyrgyz territory extremely unpopular,” Moscow analyst Alexander Pikayev told Press TV on the Kyrgyz reasoning for the decision.
The alleged US soldier implicated was evacuated without being handed over to Kyrgyz law enforcement agents.
Washington has also not taken action on the Kyrgyz move, as it has neither made any new offers nor agreed to higher rent payment. “We’re not prepared to stay at any price,” Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman commented.
Moscow, meanwhile, agreed to write off Bishkek’s USD 180 million debt while providing the county with and additional USD 150 million in assistance.
The two sides have refused to acknowledge the move as an incentive for the Kyrgyz decision.
The Kyrgyz parliament vote gives the United States sixth months to evacuate the country.
A recent decision by US President Barack Obama to deploy an additional 17,000 troops in Afghanistan, meanwhile, is expected to create new problems for the young American administration which depended on the Manas airbase for supplying the troops.
Also See:
Kyrgyz parliament votes to close US base
US-Russia tensions escalate over closure of Afghan supply base
Moscow Reacts to US Buildup in Afghanistan
The New World Order Evolving Theory
That Was No Small War in Georgia — It Was the Beginning of the End of the American Empire
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