The United States has not yet decided where to move its planes from the military base in Karshi-Khanabad, Uzbekistan, US Ambassador to neighboring Kyrgyzstan Stephen Young said Wednesday.

According to news reaching here from Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, Young told a press conference that it was still early to talk about the resettlement of those planes since Uzbekistan had required the US aircraft to be pulled out within 180 days.

The ambassador also denied the reports that the US government would transfer the planes to Kyrgyzstan's Manas air base, or would pay 200 million US dollars for an extended presence at that base, saying Kyrgyz president-elect Kurmanbek Bakiyev has never opposed to the US military deployment there.

But the US military would make more use of the Manas air base to ensure security in the run-up to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, said the ambassador.

At present, more than 1,000 US and NATO troops and fighter planes are stationed in the Manas base, while Uzbekistan hosts at least 800 US troops.

Reports said earlier that the United States were planning to move its troops and warplanes from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan.

Relations between Washington and Tashkent became sour after riots in Uzbekistan's eastern city Andijan in May. The Uzbek Foreign Ministry on July 29 delivered an official notice to the US embassy in Tashkent, demanding the US pullout within 180 days.

US-led military forces have been deployed at air bases in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan since the Sept. 11 attacks to back up the anti-terrorist campaign in Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua