A parliamentary committee on Tuesday backed a deal that allows the United States to ship non-lethal military supplies through a Kyrgyz air base to Afghanistan _ four months after the Central Asian nation ordered the eviction of U.S. troops from the base, according to a report of The Associated Press. The accord to use Manas airport as «center of transit shipments» falls short of U.S. hopes of maintaining the facility as a full-fledged military air base. The deal was backed by the Kyrgyz parliament's defense committee and now goes to the full parliament for a vote _ expected later this week. Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbaev told the committee that under the new agreement, rent for the base will increase to $60 million per year from the current $17 million. U.S. officials at the embassy in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, said they were unable to provide immediate comment on the deal.
