US secures Romanian air base for Afghan pullout
The United States agreed a deal Friday with Romania allowing use of an air base on the Black Sea as a transit point for American troops departing Afghanistan, officials said. The agreement allows the US to shift its flight operations to Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu air base from an airport in Kyrgyzstan, which charged steep rental fees and had ruled out a lease beyond July 2014. The arrangement, approved in talks Friday at the Pentagon between US and Romanian defense chiefs, resolves a crucial logistical challenge. The United States is preparing to pull out most of its combat forces and equipment from Afghanistan by the end of next year. The cost of using the Manas air field in Kyrgyzstan proved a recurring problem for Washington. Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel and Romania's Defense Minister Mircea Dusa "finalized an agreement for Romania to support logistics into and out of Afghanistan, including both personnel and cargo movement," press secretary George Little said in a statement.
