Kyrgyzstan says US troops can continue using base

The Boston Globe October 12 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received firm assurances yesterday that US military forces can use a key logistics base in this nation to support combat operations in Afghanistan and face no near-term deadline to withdraw. The commitment was made 10 weeks after the government of neighboring Uzbekistan served an eviction notice on US troops operating from a larger base there. The move was in retaliation for Washington's criticism of Uzbekistan's bloody crackdown on unarmed protesters. Kyrgyzstan's written commitment to hosting US troops appears to shore up the US position in Central Asia, at least for now. The region is a major launching pad for antiterrorist operations and an arena for intense jockeying with Russia, the traditional power in the area. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, at a news conference with Rice, said the presence of US and allied forces at the Manas air base outside the capital ''will be necessary until the situation in Afghanistan is completely stabilized." Bakiyev backed away from a joint demand by Russia, China, and most Central Asian nations in July that the United States set a deadline for withdrawing its troops from the region. A joint US-Kyrgyz statement yesterday says coalition forces can remain at Manas ''until the mission of fighting terror in Afghanistan is completed." The base hosts 1,200 US personnel, along with smaller numbers of French and Spanish troops. It is used to rotate about 200 troops into Afghanistan each day and to stage tanker aircraft. This week, it is also being used to route relief supplies headed for Pakistan's earthquake-afflicted areas. US officials said it was the first time that they have secured a written commitment on the subject. But they acknowledged that the base cannot fully replace the one in Uzbekistan, known as Karshi-Khanabad, or ''K2." ''We can pick up a lot of what was happening out of K2 here. We can't get everything," said an official accompanying Rice, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was involved in the negotiations. The United States promised that it would provide full transparency for the fees it pays Kyrgyzstan for base operations. Some Kyrgyz officials have alleged that US payments for jet fuel wound up in the pockets of the family of former president Askar Akayev. Rice's stop in Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked nation of 5 million people, was the first of a three-day, four-nation Central Asian tour. She is attempting to balance goals that often conflict: meeting US security needs and pushing the region's governments toward more political and economic change.