U.S. to reduce military presence in Central Asia: official

The United States will reduce its military presence in the Central Asian region as the cooperation between the two sides in various fields such as politics, economics and culture is being strengthened continuously, a visiting senior U.S. general said on Monday.

The United States has no intention to set up permanent military bases in the Central Asian region, Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, told reporters after talks with senior officials in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

"Over time, I would imagine that the level of cooperation would go up, but the level of presence will go down," Abizaid said

The United States dramatically expanded ties with Central Asia nations after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, setting up bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to support anti-terrorism and peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan.

Last year, however, Uzbekistan evicted U.S. troops stationed in a military base in the country over tough Western criticism about Uzbekistan's crackdown on protests in the province of Andijan, where human rights and opposition groups said hundreds of people have died.

U.S. officials recently reached a new rent deal with Kyrgyzstan over the base there, where some 1,000 troops are based.

Source: Xinhua