U.S. May Lose Kyrgyz Base Used for Afghan Operations (Update1)

May 19 (Bloomberg) — Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic bordering China, will evict the U.S. from the military base it uses for operations in Afghanistan if it doesn’t agree to pay more rent, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said.

Kyrgyzstan wants the U.S. to pay $200 million a year for the base compared with a symbolic $2.7 million at present, Bakiyev said. The Taliban, which was the reason Kyrgyzstan offered to host U.S. troops in the first place, is now gone, he said.

“Five years have passed and the war in Afghanistan is over,” Bakiyev said in an interview in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek today. “We gave the U.S. a concrete bill for the base and if the U.S. thinks the price is unfounded, it should convince us otherwise.”