(CNN) -- Before this week, most Americans had likely never heard of Kyrgyzstan and even fewer could place it on a map.





But the central Asian nation, which is about the size of South Dakota, is important to U.S. foreign policy for one simple reason: a vital military base through which tens of thousands of troops pass every month on their way in and out of Afghanistan.





The fate of the Manas Transit Center was thrown into question Wednesday when Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev was forced to flee the capital after angry mobs seized government headquarters. Fighting between police and protesters left 75 people dead and hundreds injured, authorities said Thursday.





The protesters say they are in control of the government, but Bakiev sent word Thursday from southern Kyrgyzstan that he is not abandoning his duties.





The United States likely will retain use of the Manas facility even if Bakiev's opponents secure control of the government, said Alexander Cooley, a central Asia expert at Barnard College.





Latest news out of Kyrgyzstan





"It's going to survive, but it's going to generate a lot of noise, uncomfortable negotiations and a lot of hard bargaining," said Cooley, author of "Base Politics."





The Manas base plays a major role in internal Kyrgyzstan policy on several levels.





For starters, it is a major source of income in the small nation, which has a gross domestic product of less than $12 billion a year, according to the CIA World Factbook.  The nation ranks 143rd in the world in terms of its GDP.





In exchange for use of the base, the United States provides about $180 million in aid to Kyrgyzstan each year, Cooley said. Although the United States does not pay rent for use of any bases in the world, Cooley said, about $60 million of the Kyrgyzstan aid is considered payment for access to the Manas facility.





In addition, Cooley said, Bakiev's political opponents say the United States pays about $160 million a year to buy fuel for American aircraft using the base.





"The base is as much an economic investment as much as it is a security investment," Cooley told CNN. "Kyrgyzstan does not have a lot of economic assets. That's why the base is important."





But the base also has deep significance to Bakiev's opponents, who see it as a symbol of the deposed president's corruption and U.S. complicity in his abuse of power.





"The United States stayed silent as Bakiev built a criminal state," Cooley said.





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Political opponents believe that aid paid for use of the base went into Bakiev's pockets, not the country's coffers.





"That money went to companies and shady off-shore enterprises controlled by the family," said Cooley. "It's the actual site of tacit deals and corruption."





The new government has said it will address citizens' concerns.





Kyrgyzstan has had a troubled history since shortly after gaining independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Also gaining independence that year were the three other "stans," as some people commonly refer to the region: Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.





"Kyrgyzstan seemed to be in the 1990s the one bright spot," Cooley said.





Askar Akaev, who had been president since 1990, started off as a good leader, Cooley said, "and politics were pretty pluralistic. Then, he started regressing."





Akaev increasingly turned to repression.





"As they do, he stayed a few years too many," said Cooley. "Bakiev was bad, but Akaev was a real thug."





As happened this week, opponents took to the streets in 2005 and drove Akaev from power. Bakiev won election as president in July 2005.





But he, too, soon started to maneuver to increase his power and consolidate control.





Demonstrations by political opponents in April, May and November 2006 led to the adoption of a new constitution that gave some of the president's powers to parliament and the government. A year later, the
What do some residents say the US did? What is vital to U.S. in Afghanistan war? What nation is home to a vital US base for the Afghanistan war? Who initially showed promise after the break-up of the Soviet Union?
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