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Kyrgyzstan unveils US military training base plan
Officials in the impoverished Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan say the United States plans to build a $5 million military base for training local troops to assist in the fight against international terrorism.
Kyrgyzstan already hosts a U.S. military base in Manas, outside the capital Bishkek, used by Washington as a regional hub for the U.S.-led war in nearby Afghanistan.
A Kyrgyz Defense Ministry statement released Wednesday says the training base–complete with barracks, dining hall, classrooms and an assault course–will be constructed near the southern town of Batken.
The Kyrgyz government last year backed off a threat to evict U.S. forces from Manas after Washington offered to increase the rent it pays threefold.
In Kyrgyzstan, many opposition politicians and independent journalists have been arrested, prosecuted, attacked and even killed. The United States has remained largely silent in response to this wave of violence, apparently wary of jeopardizing the status of its sprawling air base. Indeed, the Obama administration has sought to woo the Kyrgyz president since he said a year ago that he would close the Manas base.