Report: US, Kyrgyzstan reach deal on using Kyrgyz base for military supplies to Afghanistan

Report: US, Kyrgyz deal on airbase use

MOSCOW — The United States and Kyrgyzstan have reached a deal for use of a Kyrgyz airport to transport U.S. military supplies to Afghanistan, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.

Kyrgyz officials were quoted by Interfax and RIA-Novosti as saying that the deal was reached Monday to make the Manas airbase a “center of transit shipments.”

RIA-Novosti said a committee in the Central Asian country’s parliament will discuss the agreement as early as Tuesday.

U.S. and Kyrgyz officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the reports.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev stunned Washington in February when he announced that his country would be evicting U.S. forces from the Manas airbase.

The base has been an important transit point for U.S. personnel and supplies heading to Afghanistan, particularly with supply lines through Pakistan threatened by fighting in the border regions.

But in recent weeks, Kyrgyz officials have signaled that they were open to reconsidering the decision. The U.S. has a pressing need for use of Manas for logistical support for the thousands more troops being sent to Afghanistan by President Barack Obama.

Bakiyev made the announcement about the eviction just hours after reaching a deal with Russia for more than $2 billion in financial aid and loans to the ex-Soviet republic.

That led U.S. officials to suggest that Moscow, which has long been wary of the U.S. presence in Central Asia, was behind the Kyrgyz decision.