Kyrgyzstan will not permit the US to extend use of the Manas Transit Center beyond the planned US pull-out from Afghanistan in 2014. After winning the presidential election Sunday, President-elect Almazbek Atambayev’s remarks appear to contradict a statement last month by Kyrgyz UN ambassador Talaibek Kydyrov, opening the possibility of future negotiations. “We know that the United States is often engaged in conflict. First in Iraq, then in Afghanistan, and now relations are tense with Iran,” said Atambayev, quoted in the Washington Post, Tuesday. “I would not want for one of these countries to launch a retaliatory strike on the military base,” he added. Located on Kyrgyzstan’s main airport, Manas is NATO’s air mobility hub for supplies flowing to Afghanistan. The base has received significant infrastructure upgrades and investment from the US since beginning use of the base in 2001.
A KC-46 touched down at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., on July 1 after a record 45-hour nonstop flight around the world. The mission, called Project Magellan, saw the two crews aboard test their limits as they refueled Air Force jets around the planet.