BISHKEK: The United States has agreed to more than triple the rent it pays for use of a key air base in Kyrgyzstan to ship non-lethal military supplies to Afghanistan under a deal approved yesterday by a Kyrgyz parliamentary committee.

The accord to use the Manas base as a "center of transit shipments" comes four months after the Central Asian nation ordered the eviction of US troops. It falls short of US hopes of maintaining the base as a full-fledged military facility.

But it would provide a much-needed logistical support base as the US-led coalition ramps up operations against increasingly bold Taliban and Al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan.