The parliament of Uzbekistan on Friday passed a final resolution on the closure of the U.S. military base Khanabad amid a row over the massacre of demonstrators at Andizhan in June by Uzbek troops, dpa reported. "The Senate sees no reason to extend the U.S. military presence in Uzbekistan," said a statement by the parliament, which is loyal to the Central Asian republic's authoritarian president Islam Karimov. The facility by the southern town of Karzhi was established with Karimov's consent after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 11, 2001 to provide support for military and humanitarian operations in neighbouring Afghanistan. The Uzbek government in late July gave the Pentagon six months to vacate the site after the United States called for an independent investigation of the events in Andizhan in which more than 500 people are believed to have died. Citing the scaled-down nature of military operations in Afghanistan, the Uzbek parliament said there was no sense in keeping the U.S. base open. --SP 1440 Local Time 1140 GMT
