Posted on 04/09/2010 4:01:10 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan has resumed normal operations after cutting back flights because of violent unrest nearby in the capital Bishkek, a spokesman said on Friday.
Flights from the Manas base, which support military operations in Afghanistan, were suspended during clashes that killed at least 75 people and prompted the president to flee Bishkek, the NATO-led force in Afghanistan said on Thursday.
Manas spokesman Major Rickardo Bodden told Reuters on Friday that the base was again working normally.
"It resumed normal operations today. We curtailed operations for a short period of time," he said.
Since Wednesday, the worst day of violence, personnel have not been allowed to leave the base, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Central Command in Washington said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Depends on how much money we pay them.
This is the base our troops are transitioned through on the way to Afghanistan -
Its a linchpin for all of our military supplies into Afganistan. If the base is closed down it can severly damper spplying the troops.
We will pay both the Kyrgyz and the Russians whatever it takes to keep the base.
Right now there is a wildcard in play and its China. They consider Kyrgyzstan part of their sphere of influence.Ther is a rather large Chinese population there(larger than Russians) and they are probably not pleased over this Russian “coup” and have already expressed it to Moscow.
“and the Russians”
“Opposition politicians, speaking on state television after it was seized by protesters, said they had taken control of the government after a day of violent clashes that left more than 40 people dead and more than 400 wounded. The instability called into question the fate of a critical American air base in the country.”
4/8/2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/world/asia/08bishkek.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.