According to news reports, the interim Kyrgyzstan government has agreed to extend for one year the US lease of the Transit Center at Manas, a key logistical hub for US and allied operations in Afghanistan. The lease agreement with the former Kyrgyz government would have expired this summer. USAF forces at Manas continued to process personnel and supplies bound for Afghanistan even as political turmoil and violence engulfed the country. The airmen also delivered medical supplies and food to hospitals in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. (See BBC report; UPI report; All Headline News report) (Manas medical aid report by SSgt. Carolyn Viss)
Even with a 3 percent to 5 percent increase in the defense budget, losing a conflict with China still becomes a “distinct possibility" without both aircraft cuts and a fundamental change in how the Air Force structures itself for war, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. warned lawmakers…