U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday rejected a call for Washington to pull its forces out of Central Asia. Rice was in Beijing to discuss North Korean nuclear disarmament with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders, but said they also discussed a wide range of other issues. Rice rejected a call last week from a regional security group led by China and Russia for U.S. troops to leave Central Asia, saying Afghanistan still needs help to fight terror groups. "It is our understanding that the people of Afghanistan want and need the help of U.S. armed forces," she said at a news conference. The six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization called last week for U.S.-led coalition forces to withdraw from bases in Central Asia. The group includes Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan _ both of which have provided bases for U.S. troops _ as well as Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The Associated Press quoted Rice as saying that there was "still a lot of terrorist activity in Afghanistan" and that U.S. troops were training the Afghan army to counter it. She did not mention Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan, where the U.S. has placed troops. Rice left later Sunday to fly to the Thai resort city of Phuket, which suffered widespread devastation in December's tsunami.
