The Kyrgyz parliament voted and decided on Thursday that they were going to close the Manas Air Base which the United States currently uses to get supplies to troops in Afghanistan. If we are going to be increasing our troop count in Afghanistan, we will need this base more than ever. Therefore the Untied States has stated that they will pay more in order to keep the base in Kyrgyz.
In response to the deliberation from the Kyrgyz parliament, Robert Gates stated, “We have not resigned ourselves to this being the last word.”
He continued saying, “I think we are prepared to look at the fees and see if there is a justification for a somewhat larger payment but we’re not going to be ridiculous about it.”
As of now the US is paying 17.4 Million a year in order to keep this very strategic military base. I personally can’t understand why the Kyrgyz government would vote against such a positive steam of cash flow. The only thing that makes sense is that they knew the US would make a higher offer. It is for this reason that the private sector of the defense industry in the US has always thrived so well. The military is always willing to pay top dollar for what it needs.
If you ask me, the Kyrgyz government is brilliant in the timing of this deliberation since it was only two days after Obama called for the additional troops that this vote was taken. The US needs to play their cards right here. I think that a price increase is in order because the Kyrgyz government has most of the bargaining power. However I don’t think we should offer too much more because with the global recession, the government likely needs the millions we are giving them annually.
