Kyrgyzstan Wants $50 Million a Year from U.S. for Airbase
AFP: Kyrgyzstan is seeking to sharply increase — to $50 million (41.4 million euros) a year — the amount the United States pays for an airbase supporting its troops in Afghanistan, Parliament Speaker Omurbek Tekebayev said late Jan. 16.
The fees for the 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) Manas Air Base should now be paid only to the Kyrgyz state, at a rate of five to six dollars per square kilometer, Tekebayev said. “All the money coming from the airbase must go into the state budget,” he said.
Under the current complicated system, the land on which the airbase is located is controlled by several entities, which charge anything between three cents and four dollars per square kilometer.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said last month that Washington should pay “tens of times more” for use of the airbase.
Bakiyev earlier raised environmental concerns as a reason to “review” the rent paid by America for use of the base.
Last year U.S. forces were evicted from a base in another ex-Soviet republic in Central Asia, Uzbekistan, which was set up to support operations in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The eviction has forced the Americans to rely more heavily on the base in Kyrgyzstan.
Top U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visited Kyrgystan and other Central Asian states several times last year, though Washington has denied it is looking for a new base in the region.
The fees for the 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) Manas Air Base should now be paid only to the Kyrgyz state, at a rate of five to six dollars per square kilometer, Tekebayev said. “All the money coming from the airbase must go into the state budget,” he said.
Under the current complicated system, the land on which the airbase is located is controlled by several entities, which charge anything between three cents and four dollars per square kilometer.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said last month that Washington should pay “tens of times more” for use of the airbase.
Bakiyev earlier raised environmental concerns as a reason to “review” the rent paid by America for use of the base.
Last year U.S. forces were evicted from a base in another ex-Soviet republic in Central Asia, Uzbekistan, which was set up to support operations in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The eviction has forced the Americans to rely more heavily on the base in Kyrgyzstan.
Top U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visited Kyrgystan and other Central Asian states several times last year, though Washington has denied it is looking for a new base in the region.
posted by Marko at 1/17/2006 10:56:00 AM
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