[Dawn] The United States is close to a deal with Romania that would see American troops return home from Afghanistan via an air base on the Black Sea, officials said Thursday.The proposed agreement would solve a major logistical hurdle facing the US as it pulls out the bulk of its combat forces and gear from Afghanistan over the next year.
Under the arrangement, troop flight operations would shift to Romania from Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan, where a lease expires in July 2014, US defense officials told AFP.
The tentative plan will be discussed Friday when Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel hosts Romania's Defence Minister Corneliu Dobritoiu for talks, said two Pentagon officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The final details are being worked out," said one of the officials.
The logistics of the US withdrawal are "phenomenally complicated," the official said. "And this was a key piece of the puzzle." The possible agreement reflected "a growing relationship between the United States and Romania, which is in a strategically vital part of the world," he added.