BISHKEK, July 11: Kyrgyzstan, home to a US military airbase, plans to expel two American diplomats, a human rights official said on Tuesday. The US embassy declined to confirm whether the diplomats would be expelled, but said in a statement on its Web site: “The embassy of the United States is disturbed by reports of the expulsion of two US diplomats.”

The mountainous Central Asian state has been in protracted negotiations with Washington over raising the rent of a military airbase that the United States uses to support operations in nearby Afghanistan.

A fresh round of talks is expected to start this week. Kyrgyzstan wants a 100-fold increase in annual rent to $200 million.

Tursunbek Akun, chairman of Kyrgyzstan’s state-sponsored Human Rights Commission, said: “There has been an official decision by the Foreign Ministry (to expel the diplomats). —Reuters