Kyrgyz lawmakers propose to evict U.S. troops

BISHKEK, May 23 (Reuters) Kyrgyz lawmakers urged the government today to evict US troops from a military airbase in the impoverished Central Asian state.

Kyrgyz officials have in the past spoken out against the airbase, used by the United States for operations in nearby Afghanistan, and demanded Washington raise the rent.

Key parliamentary committees today put their weight behind proposals to cancel the 2001 military agreement with the United States altogether.

''The committees decided it's unfeasible to host the airbase,'' said Rashid Tagayev, head of the defence committee.

About 1,200 US servicemen are stationed in the mountainous former Soviet nation.

Kyrgyz officials renewed their call on the government to shut down the airbase after the fatal shooting of a Kyrgyz citizen by a US airman at the base in December 2006.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's government, at odds with an independent-minded parliament over a number of issues, has defended the importance of hosting the base -- a key hard currency earner for the indebted country.

The US military presence in Central Asia suffered a blow in 2005 when Uzbekistan expelled US troops from a base following Western condemnation of the use of force to quash a revolt in the town of Andizhan.

REUTERS SLD BST2233