The alliance's move appeared to be an attempt to push the United States out of a region that Moscow regards as historically part of its sphere of influence and in which China seeks a dominant role because of its extensive energy resources.
US-led military forces have been deployed at air bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to back up the antiterrorist campaign in neighboring Afghanistan.
The United States rejected the call for a deadline. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US military presence ''is determined by the terms of our bilateral agreements, under which both countries have concluded that there is a benefit to both sides from our activities."
At the Defense Department, spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said of US bases in Uzbekistan, ''It's a decision the Uzbek government has to make as to whether or not we would continue to operate from that."
According to the US military, Uzbekistan hosts at least 800 US troops, while 1,200 US-led troops are in Kyrgyzstan.
Tajikistan has allowed the French Air Force to use Dushanbe airport since 2001 as a base for logistical support to its troops in Afghanistan. Some 200 French Air Force personnel are based there.
''We support and will support the international coalition, which is carrying out an antiterror campaign in Afghanistan, and we have taken note of the progress made in the effort to stabilize the situation," the Shanghai Cooperation Organization said in a declaration at a summit in the Kazakh capital.
''As the active military phase in the antiterror operation in Afghanistan is nearing completion, the SCO would like the coalition's members to decide on the deadline for the use of the temporary infrastructure and for their military contingents' presence in those countries," it said.
A Kremlin foreign policy adviser, Sergei Prikhodko, said the group had not demanded an immediate withdrawal. But he added it was ''important for the SCO members to know when the [US] troops will go home."
The Kremlin did not object when Uzbeks and Kyrgyz agreed to host US troops.
