Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Wednesday that the U.S. military base in his country should be kept until the situation in Afghanistan is fully stabilized, according to reports from Bishkek.
Bakiyev told local television that the situation in Afghanistan has showed remarkable improvement, but it is still possible that the country deteriorates into an international terrorism breeding bed. Therefore, it is necessary that the U.S. military stays to help avert such a scenario and curb surging drug production in the country.
At the outset of the 2001 Afghanistan war, the United States established an air base in Kyrgyzstan's Manas international airport near capital Bishkek, with some 1,500 U.S. and NATO soldiers deployed there.
Uzbekistan expelled U.S. troops from an air base in 2005, leaving Manas the only base for U.S. refueling aircraft in Central Asia and a crucial transfer station for U.S. and NATO troops and supplies to Afghanistan from Europe.
Source: Xinhua
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