Kyrgyz President urges U.S. to resolve Manas issue till 2014
Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 29 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova/
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev urged the U.S. to resolve the issue of Manas transit centre till 2014, media sources reported on Thursday.
He said there are two options - either the U.S. will leave the centre in 2014, after their agreement with Kyrgyzstan on Manas expires, or the U.S. with Russia or other countries create a joint civil transit centre there.
Atambayev thinks that it is dangerous to place military bases within the territory of civil airports as it is in Manas.
The Transit Center at Manas was opened in late 2001 after the U.S launched an operation in Afghanistan. At present, it accommodates about 1,200 U.S soldiers. According to Pentagon statistics, the base handles up to 15,000 coalition servicemen and 500 tons of cargoes a month.
