WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The Pentagon said Tuesday that it will pay some 23 million US dollars for using an air base in Uzbekistan, although the central Asian country has asked the Americans to leave.

    Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman said it is the practice of the US military to "pay its bills" and he praised Uzbekistan's role in assisting US operations in neighboring Afghanistan.

    He said the payment will cover the rental of the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base between January 2003 and March this year.

    A previous payment of 15.7 million US dollars has been paid to cover the costs between September 2001 and December 2002, said Whitman.

    He said the air base was very helpful to US operations in the region, including the war against Tabliban and al-Qaeda, as well as humanitarian programs in Afghanistan.

    However, the spokesman made no comments on the Uzbek government's decision to evict US troops out of the base within 180 days.

    In July, the Uzbek foreign ministry informed the US government that it gave US troops 180 days to leave the base, which the Pentagon rented in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

    Uzbekistan's parliament voted to support the decision in August.

    Since then, media reports have guessed that the US military will probably move the base to other central Asian countries, suchas Kyrghyzstan and Turkmenistan.

    However, Turkmenistan denied the possibility of hosting US troops early this month. Enditem