Kyrgyzstan's prime minister said Thursday his country is still negotiating with the United States over use of an air base that is key to U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan, according to AP. U.S. military officials said Washington was considering resuming military cooperation with Uzbekistan to help get troops or supplies into Afghanistan. Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Uzbekistan are rocky at best. The Uzbeks expelled the U.S. from a base on its soil in 2005, and the two nations have traded accusations ever since. Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov's comments appeared to be a softening of his nation's position, two days after the country's president stunned Washington by announcing that U.S. forces were being evicted from the Manas air base.
