Report: U.S. reaches deal on airbase use

? A Russian news agency is reporting that the United States and Kyrgyzstan have reached a deal for use of a Kyrgyz base to transport military supplies to Afghanistan.

RIA-Novosti cites an unnamed Kyrgyz official as saying that a committee in the Central Asian country’s parliament will discuss the new deal as early as today.

The report could not be immediately confirmed.

Kyrgyzstan’s president stunned Washington in February when he announced that his country would be evicting U.S. forces from the Manas airbase.

The base has been an important transit point for U.S. personnel and supplies heading to Afghanistan.

But in recent weeks, Kyrgyz officials have signaled that they were open to reconsidering the eviction.