Kyrgyz lawmaker proposes setting up commission to oversee closure of U.S. air base
BISHKEK. Feb 14 (Interfax) - A member of Kyrgyzstan's parliament who represents the pro-government Ar-Namys (Dignity) party has proposed that the country set up a commission to regulate the planned closure next year of the U.S. Transit Center - a support air base at Bishkek's Manas Airport for the NATO military operation in Afghanistan.
"U.S. negotiators on the air base come here all the time," Tursunbai Bakir Uulu said at a parliament session on Thursday. He said the Kyrgyz president had repeatedly promised that "there will not be a single serviceman left" at Manas after the closure of the Transit Center.
Bakir Uulu proposed setting up a "commission on the closure of the Transit Center, to which the presidential staff, the government and parliament would each delegate two representatives."
Several refueling tanker aircraft are based at the Transit Center, and transport and cargo aircraft heading for Afghanistan or returning from that country stop over there. There are about 1,000 American troops posted at the base, which was set up in December 2001.