In another step in the exit from Afghanistan, the US has handed back its only Central Asian airbase to the government of Kyrgyzstan.<br /><br />The Manas Airbase was once a major staging point for personnel and cargo bound for the Afghan war. <br /><br />It was one of two set up in a hurry in the region to support the invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The other, in Uzbekistan, was closed in 2005.<br /><br />The pullout comes as relations worsen with Russia and its close allies among former Soviet republics.
