US to stay at Kyrgyzstan air base
Parliament in Kyrgyzstan has unanimously approved a deal allowing the US to continue using an air base crucial to operations in Afghanistan.
Lawmakers voted 75-0 to ratify an agreement that should enable the US to continue shipping military hardware and troops through the Manas air base in the Central Asian state. Five deputies abstained.
Approval was expected after officials announced the deal on Tuesday.
The decision comes four months after Kyrgyzstan's president stunned the US by announcing that its military would be evicted from the base they have used since 2001.
Kyrgyzstan ordered US forces out by mid-August.
The new deal more than triples the rent the US will pay to $60 million a year.