Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

New Kyrgyz President Urges U.S. Airbase Closure

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • New Kyrgyz President Urges U.S. Airbase Closure

    NEW KYRGYZ PRESIDENT URGES U.S. AIRBASE CLOSURE

    PanARMENIAN.Net
    November 1, 2011 - 11:29 AMT

    PanARMENIAN.Net - Kyrgyzstan's President-elect Almazbek Atambayev has
    called for the closure of the United States' airbase at Manas in the
    central Asian republic, RIA Novosti reported.

    "I don't think the base at Manas guarantees the security of
    our country. I would not want to see another country carry out
    a retaliatory strike against the base. A civil airport is a civil
    object, and it should remain so," he said.

    Kyrgyzstan "would observe all international agreements," he stressed,
    but when the current Manas base agreement expires in 2014, the American
    facility there should go.

    Kyrgyzstan could set up a transport hub for Afghanistan for "passage
    of civilian traffic, maybe together with Russia," Atambayev said.

    "There is no political game here. It's not really very good to arrive
    at the country's main airport and see military equipment there,"
    he said at his first press conference after preliminary presidential
    election results were announced on Sunday, October 30.

    With 99.96 percent of the ballots counted on Sunday, Atambayev won
    the election with 63.24 percent of the vote. His nearest rival was
    the leader of the United Kyrgyzstan party Adakhan Madumarov, with
    14.76 percent.

    The Manas base was set up near the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek in 2001
    in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in America to support military
    operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The facility remains
    key to supply operations for the ongoing military campaign there.

    Kyrgyz Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov has said previously that the
    future of the base as a transit point for U.S. military cargo should
    be decided by the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a grouping
    of Central Asian states including several former Soviet Republics.

Working...
X