Kyrgyzstan Allows US To Keep Using Base

Transit Center at Manas
(Manas Air Base)

By More than tripling the rent/no lethal military supplies allowed WTF?

BISHKEK (AFP) — The United States and Kyrgyzstan signed a deal on the transit of supplies to Afghanistan that will effectively keep open a US airbase that Kyrgyz authorities had ordered shut, officials said Tuesday.

The Central Asian state had thrown a wrench into US President Barack Obama's plan to intensify the campaign against the Taliban when it ordered the closure of the Manas airbase, a key transit point for Afghanistan operations.

Under a new deal worth some 177 million dollars, the rent that Washington pays for the base -- now called a "transit centre" -- will be more than tripled, but it can only be used for non-lethal military supplies.

Bishkek had signed the deal out of concern for "the worrying situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev told the country's parliament.

"The Kyrgyz government decided... to conclude an intergovernmental agreement with the United States on cooperation and the formation of a transit centre at Manas airport," he said.

Thanks to Kenny Solomon who has been following the situation in Kyrgyzstan and posting numerous updates.

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Cross posted at the Jawa Report