Kyrgyzstan calls deployment of U.S. base contribution to fight with terrorism
13:46 02/12/2010 BISHKEK, December 2 (RIA Novosti) - The Pentagon's transit center in Bishkek is currently fully operational and this is Kyrgyzstan's contribution to the fight with international terrorism, Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva said after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday.
Otunbayeva emphasized that Kyrgyzstan looks for "peace and understanding in Central Asia and the complete liquidation of terrorism in the region."
"The spring won't be easy. The theater of war in Afghanistan is moving northward, closer to the border with Kyrgyzstan," the Kyrgyz leader said.
Clinton added that the United States was currently working so that terrorism did not move into other countries from Afghanistan.
The military base on the territory of Bishkek's Manas Airport was built in 2001 as a part of U.S.-led international military operations in nearby Afghanistan.
In early 2009, the Kyrgyz government announced that all U.S. troops would have to leave the country, but later agreed to a deal with the Pentagon on improved terms under which the facility was turned into a transit center.
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