Kyrgyzstan demands new terms for U.S. air base
12:36 | 25/ 01/ 2006
BISHKEK, January 25 (RIA Novosti, Yulia Orlova) - Kyrgyzstan has
notified the United States about proposed changes to an agreement on
the status of a U.S. airbase in the country, the country's foreign
ministry said Wednesday.
The note, which the ministry passed to U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan
Marie Yovanovitch, outlines new provisions for the bilateral agreement
on the base, which is used to conduct anti-terrorist operations in
Afghanistan.
The new terms primarily envision a significant rise in the rent and the
compensation of environmental damage.
A few months ago, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev began negotiations
with the U.S. to review the agreement and said the Americans would have
to pay world prices for renting a base near the international Manas
airport in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.
The base was established in Kyrgyzstan in late 2001 under the mandate
of the UN as part of Operation Enduring Freedom conducted by coalition
forces in Afghanistan.
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