Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said Wednesday that he is reserving the right to shut down the USAF-operated Manas Air Base if the US does not renegotiate the contract on the facility’s use. According to Reuters news service, Bakiyev expects a satisfactory end to rent negotiations by June 1. Just last fall, Bakiyev told US officials that the US military could continue to use the base until the situation in Afghanistan stabilized. At the same time, he said the rent would go up.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
