US Defence Secretary to Intervene in Air Base Row

United States Secretary of Defence Robert Gates plans to travel to Kyrgyzstan in early June for talks on security cooperation with senior government officials. He will visit the Manas air base and meet US military commanders and troops stationed there.



The mood in Kyrgyzstan has grown increasingly hostile to the US base after a Kyrgyz citizen was shot dead by an American serviceman in December.



Last week the Kyrgyz government said it would not let the US launch an attack on Iran from the Manas airbase in the event of a conflict, but some members of parliament want to go much further and end the arrangement altogether.