U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Washington has no plans to have a military base in Tajikistan, or to increase its military presence abroad.
Ms. Rice made the comment Thursday at a news conference in Dushanbe, following a meeting with Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov.
The top U.S. diplomat said that, on the contrary, the United States is reducing the number of its military bases across the world.
Earlier in the day, Ms. Rice held talks with President Emomali Rakhmonov that focused on cooperation in democracy building and the war against terrorism and drug trafficking.
Ms. Rice arrived in Tajikistan - the last stop on her Central Asian tour - from Kazakhstan, where she denied suggestions that Washington was putting its oil interests ahead of democracy in the Central Asian nation.
