Fate of US airbase murky after Kyrgyzstan elections
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BISHKEK—Parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan that saw the rise of a fiercely nationalist party have raised questions about the fate of a US airbase seen as key to coalition military operations in Afghanistan.
Kyrgyzstan, a geo-strategically important country that is the only one in the world to host both US and Russian military bases, held elections Sunday to create former Soviet Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy.
The hardline nationalist Ata-Zhurt party that topped the poll had pledged during the campaign to oust the United States Transit Centre at Manas outside the capital Bishkek, a key conduit for troops and fuel to support operations in the war-wracked country.
Akhmatbek Keldybekov, an Ata-Zhurt party leader, told AFP that the party planned on keeping its promise.
“Once parliament is formed, we will raise the issue of the withdrawal of the US military base from the territory of Kyrgyzstan. That is our position,” Keldybekov told AFP..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101015com7.html
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