Kyrgyzstan issues eviction notice for Manas

[unhappycamper]

A lineup of U.S. Air Force C-17s seen at Manas Air Base in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Feb. 18. Kyrgyzstan's parliament voted to close the air base that provides key support to military operations in Afghanistan.


Kyrgyzstan issues eviction notice for Manas
By Leila Saralayeva and Douglas Birch - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 20, 2009 13:38:50 EST

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — The United States was on the verge of being kicked out of its only military outpost in Russia’s historic backyard Friday after Kyrgyzstan gave U.S. forces six months to vacate an air base that serves as a key supply hub for troops in Afghanistan.

The Manas base, created shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, at first served as a symbol of what seemed like a budding strategic partnership between the U.S. and Russia.

But as relations between the countries soured in recent years, the base came to represent the renewed competition between the two former Cold War rivals.

Maj. Damien Pickart, a spokesman for the U.S. base, said he expected military officials to begin preparations for leaving.

“If they tell us that our time is up — which they’ve done today — then we’ll start the necessary preparations to move operations,” he added. “I don’t know if it will take the full six months,” he said.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_manas_kyrgyzstan_022009/%2e



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