Kyrgyzstan: US Diplomats Raise Base Cost Estimate

The anti-terror training center that the United States is proposing to build in Kyrgyzstan's southern Batken Province would cost $5.5 million, not $500,000 as a US Embassy representative in Bishkek initially stated.

The training center, which would be handed over to the Kyrgyz once completed, joins a growing number of US-funded facilities in the Central Asian republic. In October 2009, a Special Forces Training Compound costing $9 million was opened in Tokmok.

Kyrgyz defense officials have not confirmed the US plan for a Batken base is a done deal. If the US base plan proceeds, it would place pressure on Russia to go forward with plans to open a Collective Security Treaty Organization facility in southern Kyrgyzstan.