The United States has agreed to more than triple the rent it pays to continue use of an air base in Kyrgyzstan crucial to operations in Afghanistan, under a deal approved Tuesday by a Kyrgyz parliamentary committee.
The accord continuing U.S. use of the Manas base as a "center of transit shipments" comes four months after the Central Asian nation ordered the eviction of U.S. troops.
The deal appears to give U.S. forces unfettered access to transporting weaponry and ammunition via the base — providing a much-needed boost as the U.S.-led coalition ramps up operations against increasingly bold Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan.
Good for the administration on solving this problem.
I just hope our payments don't include a secret deal with Russia that undermines other interests we have.
