Donald Rumsfeld shakes hands with US soldier in Kyrgyzstan

 Manas is the first stop on Mr. Rumsfeld Central Asian trip, which will include a visit to Afghanistan and a final stop in Moscow on Monday. Nearly 2,000 coalition troops and some 12 fighter jets are stationed at Manas. Most of the forces are American, but there are also contingents from Australia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea and Spain.

 U.S. troops unofficially call the facility Ganci Air Base in honor of New York City Fire Chief Peter Ganci who was killed in the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. 

Mr. Rumsfeld is expected to hold talks Saturday with Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev and other Kyrgyz officials.

 The talks will concern regional security, the progress of the anti-terrorist campaign in Afghanistan and the post-conflict rebuilding of the country.
 
 

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. 

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