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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration scrambled Wednesday to come up with an alternative to a crucial U.S. air base in Central Asia, used to supply the growing military operation in Afghanistan, after the president of Kyrgyzstan ordered the American base in his country closed.
Defense and State Department officials said they had concluded that Russia had pressed Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, to expel the Americans. Russia has promised not to impede the American-led fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan but has also sought to push U.S. forces out of bases it began leasing in Central Asia after Sept. 11, 2001. The Kyrgyz parliament planned to vote Friday on a measure that would close the base at Manas.
