Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice secured a deal with Kyrgyzstan this week, giving the U.S. the right to keep using a Kyrgyz airbase. The new Kyrgyz government, which took power last spring in the so-called Tulip Revolution, had been reluctant to honor its predecessor’s agreement on renting the base. Under the new deal, Kyrgyzstan will get more money, plus U.S. help in tracking down the roughly $45 million the U.S. had been paying annually to use the base. The Kyrgyz suspect that the family of their former president, Askar Akayev, pocketed most of it. The U.S. military needs the base to support troops in nearby Afghanistan; neighboring Uzbekistan recently asked U.S. forces to leave its bases.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
What does a slowdown in payroll additions mean for the coming year?Today's Big Question New private payrolls were well below expectations this November, according to one report
-
Sen. Warren's food fight over a potential 'big sandwich' monopoly
Talking Point A private equity firm's attempted Subway takeover has federal regulators salivating.
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levels
Speed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
