Romania is close to clinch a deal with the United States which would see American troops return home from Afghanistan via an air base on the Black Sea.

Romania is close to clinch a deal with the United States which would see American troops return home from Afghanistan via an air base on the Black Sea.

The proposed agreement would solve a major logistical hurdle facing the US as it pulls out the bulk of its combat forces and gear from Afghanistan over the next year.

Under the arrangement, troop flight operations would shift to Romania from Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan, where a lease expires in July 2014, US defense officials told AFP.

The tentative plan will be discussed Friday when Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel hosts Romania's Defense Minister Corneliu Dobritoiu for talks, said two Pentagon officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The final details are being worked out," said one of the officials.

The logistics of the US withdrawal are "phenomenally complicated," the official said. "And this was a key piece of the puzzle."
The possible agreement reflected "a growing relationship between the United States and Romania, which is in a strategically vital part of the world," he added.

Romania previously agreed to host a site for US anti-missile interceptors as part of a NATO ballistic missile defense system.

Representatives from both governments in recent months have been negotiating the terms for use of the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base in eastern Romania, which would serve as the main hub for flying troops out of Afghanistan back to the United States.