MANAS (Kyrghyzstan): The anti-terrorist coalition has established a long-term base 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) north of Afghanistan in the Central Asian republic of Kyrghyzstan.

It has almost finished building an air base here, from where six French mirage jets have been conducting combat operations since March 2.

The base at Manas, near the Kyrghyzstan capital Bishkek, is an immense city of military tents on the edge of the Bishkek civilian airport.

This old Soviet aerodrome was built in the 1970s to counter threats from China, which lies only 500 kilometres to the east. It is currently home to 1,500 soldiers from the coalition, including 750 Americans and 450 French troops.

Never before have Americans and other Western countries had such a massive military presence in the former Soviet Union.

“Very soon we will number about 2,000,” said the commander of the base, US General Wayne Lloyd.

“There is a great investment here. We are going to be here for a certain period of time ... as long as the war against terrorism in Afghanistan continues,” he said.

Lloyd has ordered the extension of the base to accommodate new arrivals, the construction of a road the length of the airport, and the construction of an ammunitions depot to replace a depot built by the French.

“The tent camp is limited to 2,000 places. Construction of another camp to hold 1,000 people is underway, because the idea is to expand and to move to 30 planes a day from the current 15,” added French Colonel Saster Kochanowski, the second in command at the base.

In total, 11 nations will be present at Manas. American, French, South Korean, Australian, Spanish, Danish, and Norwegian troops are already here.

The stars of the base are six French mirage jets. They are accompanied by C-135 air supply craft, which function as veritable service stations in the Afghan sky, and tactical transport aircraft.

The Mirages arrived on Feb 27 and were operational by March 2, the first day of Operation Anaconda, the US-led offensive against diehard fighters from the Al Qaeda terror network in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktia.—AFP