Uzbek parliament backs decision to evict US troops

The upper house of Uzbekistan’s parliament today backed the government’s order that the United States withdraw troops from the Central Asian nation.

The 93 Senate members present at the session voted unanimously for a resolution that backed the government’s July 29 order giving the United States six months to vacate Karshi-Khanabad, an air base in the country’s south that has been crucial for the US-led anti-terror operations in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Observers said the order could be connected to a US decision to join international demands for an independent investigation into a bloody crackdown on unarmed demonstrators in an eastern Uzbek city in May.