On July 14, 2006, Kyrgyzstan and United States issued a “Joint statement of the U.S. and the Kyrgyz Republic on coalition forces airbase at Manas airport”, resulting from the final round of negotiations on the continued presence of the American airbase on Kyrgyz territory. The statement emphasized the importance of the airbase in stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan and in fighting international terrorism. The U.S. government is ready to pay reasonable compensation to the Kyrgyz government and to Kyrgyz businesses for goods, services and support of U.S. operations, the statement said. Kyrgyzstan’s Security Council Secretary Miroslav Niyazov and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense James MacDougall signed a Protocol confirming the agreement.

According to this agreement, the United States intend to hand over $150 million in the form of assistance and compensation over the next year, pending approval by the U.S. Congress. In his interview to the Kyrgyz office of the BBC, Niyazov stated that the Kyrgyz side is satisfied with the results of the negotiations. “We have agreed that total payments by American side will make up over $150 million per year”. Concerning the rent, Niyazov said that the U.S. will pay $20 million a year instead of $2.5 million as was earlier the case.

The “Ganci” airbase was deployed in the “Manas” international airport in December 2001, under a United Nations mandate to support coalition efforts in Afghanistan. Military personnel of 11 states were represented including France, Spain and South Korea. Currently, only U.S. military personnel and technical equipment remains at the airbase. The airbase has gained more importance since the United States military was forced to leave the Khanabad air base in neighboring Uzbekistan in 2005.

The issue of the U.S. airbase in Kyrgyzstan was raised at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Astana in July 2005. The summit’s Final Declaration, signed by the presidents of SCO states, included an article on determining the dates of the withdrawal of military bases from SCO members’ territories in view of the accomplishment of the active phase of anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan.

The same month, U.S. Minister of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Kyrgyzstan in order to negotiate the American military presence in the country. As a result of the visit, it was decided to keep the airbase until the situation in Afghanistan normalizes. This decision was nailed down by a joint U.S.-Kyrgyz statement as a result of negotiations between Kyrgyz authorities and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on October 11, 2005, in Bishkek.

At the same time, during Rumsfeld’s July 2005 visit, Kyrgyz President Bakiev proposed to sign a new agreement on the airbase. Thereby, Bakiev created a special interdepartmental working group, under the President Administration, to develop new terms of the agreement. After several months of work, the special group came up with new terms, including a significant increase in the rent to be paid, compensation for environmental damage, security issues, taxes, and a list of other provisions reflecting the national interests of Kyrgyzstan. A note with the new terms of the agreement was handed to U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovich on January 24, 2006.

On December 8, 2005, President Bakiev stated at a meeting with the heads of national TV/Radio companies that the agreement on the airbase was up for review as a result of which Kyrgyzstan would be getting a hundred times more rent payments than it did so far. He emphasized the fact that the American government is willing to pay. Later, in an interview to the Russian newspaper “Kommersant” in February 2006, he stated that the U.S. would pay around $207 million, about 100 times more than previously. At the time, the American side was stating that it will pay more than it did before. But at the same time, Richard Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, told Itar-Tass in April that the U.S. government was not intended to pay an excessive sum.

In view of delaying the negotiation process, President Bakiev made a statement on national television on April 19, that escalated U.S.-Kyrgyz relations. He said if the negotiations would not be completed by June 1, 2006, Kyrgyzstan would retain the right to abrogate the earlier bilateral agreement of December 2001.

Despite this statement, the first round of negotiations was held only on May 31-June 1, 2006. In order to achieve a mutually beneficial agreement, the two sides agreed to hold another round of final negotiations in July 2006. An incident with two American diplomats expelled from Kyrgyzstan put this last stage at risk. According to an official statement by the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated July 11, 2006, two diplomatic officers of the U.S. Embassy were declared persona non grata in the country. This decision was taken on the basis of facts presented by the Kyrgyz security services about the involvement of these diplomats in actions incompatible with their diplomatic status and the norms of international law. The two diplomats were accused of being U.S. intelligence agents, something U.S. officials deny. In return, the U.S. expelled two Kyrgyz diplomats. While this cast a cloud over negotiations, the stakes involved ensured that an agreement was reached.