A US soldier guards the main access checkpoint to the US air base 30 kmoutside of Bishkek in Manas. Photo AFP.
Analysis: US Base Falls Victim To Kyrgyz Crisis
-- Yahoo News/AP
-- Yahoo News/AP
Kyrgyzstan may have felt it had no choice in expelling the U.S. from a base vital to the war in Afghanistan.
Months of crippling electricity shortages, soaring food prices and rampant unemployment have caused misery for much of the population. A reinvigorated opposition has threatened to stage nationwide protests against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Against that backdrop, Russia pledged to help raise $1.7 billion for a much-needed hydropower plant and issue a $300 million low-interest 40-year loan repayable over a 40-year period. Moscow also agreed to give $150 million in aid and cancel an outstanding $190 million debt.
But Russia has also made clear its objections to the Manas air base, saying it was only supposed to remain for two years after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
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More News On The U.S. Airbase Closing In Kyrgyzstan
US options after Kyrgyz base closure -- BBC
US options after Kyrgyz base closure -- BBC
Tajikistan ready to help US with Afghanistan supplies -- Yahoo News/Ap
Kyrgyzstan says U.S. air base decision is final -- Washington Post
Kyrgyzstan: US base closure ‘final’ -- Christian Science Monitor
U.S. Searches for Alternative to Kyrgyz Base -- New York Times
Russia allows transit of US military supplies -- Yahoo News/AP
Russia offers its own territory for U.S.-Afghan shipments -- International Herald Tribune
Russia offers transit of US supplies to Afghanistan -- Euronews
Russia ready for transit of non-lethal U.S. goods to Afghanistan -- RIA Novosti
What the Russian papers say -- RIA Novosti
Russia Offers Kind Words, but Its Fist Is Clenched -- New York Times
Analysis: Moscow uses base as tool in negotiation -- AP