WaPo will soon have this: Not on their web site yet:
now online here
WASHINGTON--Uzbekistan formally evicted the United States Friday from a military base that has served as a hub for combat and humanitarian missions to Afghanistan since shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Pentagon and State Department officials said Friday. ...
You gotta figure the Uzbek government is under so much domestic pressure, after recent riots and that horrible crackdown by security forces, that their collaboration with the U.S. must be (officially at least) scaled back.
The article goes on to explain how Rumsfeld's trip to Central Asia is to secure sites from other "stans" for staging around the Afghanistan theater.
More from WaPo
In a highly unusual move, the notice of eviction from Karshi-Khanabad air base, known as K2, was delivered by a courier from the Uzbek Foreign Ministry to the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, said a senior U.S. administration official involved in Central Asia policy. The message did not give a reason. Uzbekistan will give the United States 180 days to move aircraft, personnel and equipment, U.S. officials said.
If Uzbekistan follows through, as Washington expects, the United States will face several logistical problems for its operations in Afghanistan. Scores of flights have used K2 monthly.
It has been a landing base to transfer humanitarian goods that then are taken by road into northern Afghanistan, particularly to Mazar-e-Sharif--with no alternative for a region difficult to reach in the winter. K2 is also a refueling base with a runway long enough for large military aircraft. The alternative is much costlier midair refueling.