US to keep military base in Kyrgyzstan

[kentuck]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AE3DFA87-A952-42EA-B797-58663340B2BD.htm

<snip>
The United States has won assurances from Kyrgyzstan that Washington can keep its military base in the former Soviet Central Asian state as long as the situation in Afghanistan required it.


Earlier this month, members of a group uniting Russia, China and former Soviet Central Asian states questioned the need for Washington's bases in Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring Uzbekistan, set up in 2001 to support US-led operations in Afghanistan.

"The presence of the base fully depends on the situation in Afghanistan," acting Kyrgyz Defence Minister Ismail Isakov told a joint news conference with visiting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.


...more

[donsu]

1. yes, just read this article telling how Rummy raced over there to

bully, bribe, blackmail and threaten them to keep our bases there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4716563.stm

-snip-

Mr Rumsfeld has flown to the region on an urgent mission, travelling half-way round the world at short notice.

The reason is the US is suddenly under pressure to pull out from air bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

-snip-
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[watercolors]

2. grandson's wife stationed there

for four months, she is AF, they were never allowed off base. She was told it was not safe, so she couldn't even get a hint of what life would like there. It was winter and extremely cold, all she had to say was food was pretty good.She said she could have been in Alaska or greenland for all she saw.