“The main goal of my visit to your region is to express gratitude on the behalf of the US Central Command for Central Asian countries in fighting with international terrorism in Afghanistan”, said Chief of the US Central Command General Tommy Franks at a press conference in Bishkek. “I visited Kazakhstan, where negotiated with President Nursultan Nazarbaev and I intend to stay in Kyrgyzstan a week then I will continue my tour via Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenia to Afghanistan”, he added. Concerning to issues of the term prolongation of the antiterrorist coalition base in Kyrgyzstan, the General said the data issue was not discussed at the meeting with President Askar Akaev. The current Agreement considers the presence of military men until the end of operation in Afghanistan. He said that the antiterrorist coalition led by USA includes 70 countries of the world, 37 of them are on the front line and among them Kyrgyzstan. The General said that the peaceful life is established in Afghanistan, the population receives medical aids, “Al-Qaeda and IDU” stopped their free existence, and the people conducted the first democratic elections. (Kabar)