MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) – The United States has started the withdrawal from an airbase in Kyrgyzstan that serves as the main transit hub for NATO forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.
In 2011, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev announced plans to shut the base down by 2014, when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is to be pulled out of Afghanistan.
He signed a bill ordering the closure of the base into law in June. It stipulates that US forces must abandon the base at Manas International Airport, near the capital Bishkek, by July 2014.
“The Department of Defense has begun the process of relocating from the Transit Center at Manas International Airport (TCM) and plans to complete the transfer of areas and facilities to the Government of Kyrgyzstan by July 2014,” the statement reads.“Working closely with Kyrgyzstan over the next nine months, the U.S. will manage the TCM relocation effort while continuing to support the International Security Assistance Force mission,” the Department of Defense said.
Pentagon spokesman George Little told the media that U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa agreed during their meeting on Friday that US military cargo and personnel going to and from Afghanistan by air will be hauled via Romania after the closure of Manas.Secretary Hagel and Minister Dusa finalized an agreement for Romania to support logistics into and out of Afghanistan, including both personnel and cargo movement,” Little said.- Little said Hagel also thanked Romania for its decision to host the U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system due to be ready in 2015.
en.ria.ru19/10/13---------------------------------------------------------- US, Romania agree on air base rights....
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. and Romania have reached an agreement to allow American troops and cargo to use the Black Sea air base of Mihail Kogalniceanu as a transport hub as they move in and out of Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel finalized the agreement in a meeting with Romania's Defense Minister Mircea Dusa on Friday. The Romania base is critical because beginning next June the U.S. will no longer be able to use the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan. Lawmakers there voted to end the agreement. That complicated matters for the U.S. as it brings thousands of troops out of Afghanistan over the next year.
Romania has also agreed to host an Aegis radar as part of the broader European missile defense system meant to protect against possible Iranian missile attacks.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/18/5833321/us-romania-agree-on-air-base-rights.html#storylink=cpy
18/10/13-------------------------------------------------
- Pentagon shifting logistics hub to Romania from Kyrgyzstan...
Finding a new location for the Afghanistan air logistics center was important because the Kyrgyz government has asked the United States to leave Manas by July 2014.
The Pentagon said on Friday it has begun shifting its Afghanistan air logistics hub to a base in Romania and will complete the transition from Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan by the time its contract for that facility expires in July 2014.
The announcement of the decision to shift the operations to Forward Operating Site Mihail Kogalniceanu in eastern Romania followed a visit to the Pentagon on Friday by Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa.
U.S. forces have used the site, located on the Black Sea, since 1999. An agreement between the United States and Romania in 2005 allowed Washington to use several bases, including Mihail Kogalniceanu, for training, storing equipment and deployments.
Finding a new location for the Afghanistan air logistics center was important because the Kyrgyz government has asked the United States to leave Manas by July 2014 and U.S. forces are in the midst of shipping home equipment after 12 years of war.
The Pentagon said in a statement that "the U.S. appreciates the support provided by the Kyrgyz people" to U.S. and coalition forces fighting in Afghanistan and "respects the decision of the government" to stop hosting the facility after a dozen years.
U.S. and Romanian defense ties have been growing. They include the construction of a land-based Aegis missile defense system as part of President Barack Obama's European ballistic missile defense program, which aims to protect against any weapons fired from Iran.
The Pentagon said Undersecretary of Defense for Policy James Miller would attend a groundbreaking ceremony later this month for the construction of the Aegis site.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=120973
19/10/13
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