KRAKOW, Poland — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday played down Kyrgyzstan’s moves to kick the United States off a strategic air base and said he was willing to negotiate higher rent to stay.
Hours after Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted 78-1 to evict the U.S. military, Gates said the Central Asian base — which sends about 500 tons of supplies to the Afghanistan war each month — is important. But he said it is not irreplaceable and that the former Soviet republic won’t put the U.S. over a barrel.
“We are prepared to look at the fees and see if there is justification for a somewhat larger payment,” Gates said at a news conference. “But we’re not going to be ridiculous about it.”
Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan’s president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, signed a bill today to cancel the lease agreement for the Manas air base. Kyrgyz authorities can now issue an eviction notice, giving the United States 180 days to leave the base.
The United States pays $17.4 million a year for use of the transit hub, under terms of a 2006 lease. About 15,000 troops and 500 tons of cargo move through the base monthly.
Gates, in Europe for NATO talks, also said the Obama administration needs more time to decide the fate of a proposed European missile defense shield that soured the Bush administration’s relations with Russia.
Part of the system would be based in Poland, and the Polish defense chief pressed Gates for an answer amid speculation that President Barack Obama could walk away from the deal.
“Between the economic crisis, Afghanistan and Iraq, the administration has not reviewed where it is on a whole range of issues,” Gates told reporters, adding that he had asked the Poles for patience.
The lower-level defense ministers’ meeting Thursday was dominated by the worsening war in Afghanistan and the U.S. request for more allied help. Obama approved 17,000 new U.S. forces for Afghanistan this week, and Gates was asking for emergency troops to help protect Afghan civilians from militant violence ahead of national elections this summer.
