Radio Azattyk (RL Kyrgyz Service) reports establishment in Kyrgyzstan of the public council for US AF base withdrawal.

What information is available at this point indicates that the council will comprise the forces determined to see the AF base of the counter-terrorism coalition pulled out. They refer to the possibility that the United States will use the facility for air strikes at Iran and to the episode with the death of Alexander Ivanov, a citizen of Kyrgyzstan shot by an American soldier.

Sources in the parliament of the republic maintain that appeals in the name of the new council will be made to all branches of the government soon.

What information is available indicates as well that the council will stage a protest rally in front of the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan on June 2.

Lawmaker Almanbet Matubraimov intends to bring up the matter of the AF base in Manas at the meeting of the parliament, today. According to Matubraimov, US State Secretary Condolleezza Rice said that should the United States decide to strike at Iran, the first strike of the series will be delivered from Kyrgyzstan. Iran in the meantime promises a retaliation. Matubraimov claims to have found the information in the Internet. He will ask the parliament to set up a special panel to discuss the matter.

The counter-terrorism coalition set up the AF base in Manas in 2001, ostensibly for the operation in Afghanistan.