In another step in the exit from Afghanistan, the US has handed back its only Central Asian airbase to the government of Kyrgyzstan.

The Manas Airbase was once a major staging point for personnel and cargo bound for the Afghan war.

It was one of two set up in a hurry in the region to support the invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The other, in Uzbekistan, was closed in 2005.

The pullout comes as relations worsen with Russia and its close allies among former Soviet republics.