grams from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and
Turkey) (1997)

Televisions: 210,000 (1997)

Internet country code: .kg

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): NA

Internet users: 10,000 (2000)

Kyrgyzstan Transportation

Railways: total: 370 km in common carrier service; does not include
industrial lines

broad gauge: 370 km 1.520-m gauge (1990)

Highways: total: 18,500 km (including 140 km of expressways)

paved: 16,854 km (these roads are said to be hard-surfaced, and
include, in addition to conventionally paved roads, some that are
surfaced with gravel or other coarse aggregate, making them
trafficable in all weather)

unpaved: 1,646 km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth and
are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) (1996)

Waterways: 600 km (1990)

Pipelines: natural gas 200 km

Ports and harbors: Balykchy (Ysyk-Kol or Rybach'ye)

Airports: 50 (2000 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 4

over 3,047 m: 1

2,438 to 3,047 m: 1

1,524 to 2,437 m: 1

914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2000 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 46

2,438 to 3,047 m: 3

1,524 to 2,437 m: 5

914 to 1,523 m: 6

under 914 m: 32 (2000 est.)

Kyrgyzstan Military

Military branches: Army, Air and Air Defense, Security Forces,
Border Troops

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 1,203,001 (2001
est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49:
975,744 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 50,590
(2001 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $12 million (FY99)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1% (FY99)

Kyrgyzstan Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: territorial dispute with Tajikistan on
southwestern boundary in Isfara Valley area; periodic target of
Islamic insurgents from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan

Illicit drugs: limited illicit cultivator of cannabis and opium
poppy, mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication
program; increasingly used as transshipment point for illicit drugs
to Russia and Western Europe from Southwest Asia

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@Laos

Laos Introduction

Background: In 1975 the communist Pathet Lao took control of the
government, ending a six-century-old monarchy. Initial closer ties
to Vietnam a