Rumsfeld to visit Kyrgyzstan amid calls for U.S. military to set withdrawal date

The United States is concerned with the claims of former Soviet Central Asian states to withdraw U.S. military bases. It looks like U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wants to solve the deal on the spot.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld plans to visit Kyrgyzstan next week, the Kyrgyz defense ministry said.

Acting Defense Minister Ismail Isakov will meet with Rumsfeld during the July 25-26 visit, a Defense Ministry statement said. It did not specify what issues would be discussed, said the AP.

The U.S. Embassy declined comment on the defense ministry's announcement.

At the meeting in Kazakhstan the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member-countries called for the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition in Afghanistan to set a time frame for withdrawing its forces from member states. A day later Kyrgyzstan's top diplomat, acting Foreign Minister Roza Otunbayeva, called once again for the U.S. to set a date for withdrawing troops based in Central Asia.