Krakow
19 February 2009
US Secretary of Defense Gates (L), whispers to UN Special Rep. to Afghanistan Kai Eide in Krakow, 19 Feb. 2009 |
The Kyrgyz parliament's vote on the expulsion of U.S. forces was decisive. But termination of the lease involves six months' notice, which has not yet been officially delivered to U.S. officials. And Secretary Gates said the United States plans to use that time to try to change minds in Bishkek.
"We are going to continue to work the problem with the Kyrgyz. We have not resigned ourselves to this being the last word. So I haven't written this off yet. And my hope is that we can 'walk this back' with the Kyrgyz and continue the arrangement," he said.
US military planes at Manas US military base in Bishkek airport, Kyrgyzstan, 12 Feb 2009 |
But Secretary Gates repeated his offer to pay more to continue using the base in Kyrgyzstan.
"I think we are prepared to look at the fees and see if there is justification for a somewhat larger payment, but we're not going to be ridiculous about it. It is an important base, but it's not so important that we're going to waste taxpayer dollars paying something that's exorbitant," he said.
The United States currently pays $17 million a year for use of the Kyrgyz base, in addition to $150 million in aid. The Kyrgyz president announced his intention to close the U.S. operation when he was in Moscow earlier this month, right after Russia signed a $2 billion aid deal.