Following the ousting of its president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, by a popular uprising, Kyrgyzstan has extended the contract permitting the United States to use the Manas air base for another year. The present contract expires this June.
 
The Manas base is a crucially important part of the supply line to US troops in Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan's recent political turmoil has been seen as a threat to the continuing use by the US of the base that has been operational since 2000. Last year, then-president Bakiyev threatened to close the base but eventually allowed it to remain open.
 
Mr Bakiyev has now gone into exile in Kazakhstan, following mediation by the US, Russia and the European Union. The country’s interim government says he has officially renounced the presidency. It is not known whether he will return. Interim government leader Roza Otunbayeva is, however, still insisting he stand trial for the deaths of dozens of protesters in the uprising that drove him from power.