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US base in Kyrgyzstan 'very dangerous': president
Kyrgyzstan's new leader said Thursday it was "very dangerous" for his Central Asian nation to host a US military base at Bishkek airport and that it must become a fully civilian airport by 2014.Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said he told visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake that the annual users fee of $150 million which Washington paid was not worth the risks involved. "Perhaps they may think that Almazbek Atambayev is doing this under pressure from Russia," said Atambayev, a former prime minister who was elected president of the turbulent nation near Afghanistan last month. "This is not the case," he stressed. "We want to transform Manas into a fully civilian airport. And keeping a military base for $150 million is slightly dangerous. Not slightly, but very dangerous." Posted by: Water Modem 2011-12-29 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=336174 |