America rejected charges of inappropriate behavior against two of its diplomats ordered expelled by the government of Kyrgyzstan.

“Allegations that these officials engaged in inappropriate activities are simply not true,” the American Embassy in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, said on its Web site. “Such allegations are clearly in the interest of those who would wish to harm relations” between the countries.

The charges involve contacts with nongovernmental organizations, the embassy said, without giving any details.

Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked nation of 5.2 million people in Central Asia, and America were scheduled to resume negotiations yesterday on the future of an air base the U.S. military uses to support its operations in Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan’s government wants to increase the annual rent for the base to $200 million from about $2.7 million America pays now.

“It is difficult to see how the expulsion of the U.S. diplomats without grounds would serve the long-term interest of Kyrgyzstan,” the American Embassy said in its statement. It didn’t say whether the diplomats have left the country.

Kyrgyz press outlets reported that the diplomats may be intelligence officers, Russia’s Interfax news agency said late Tuesday. Kyrgyzstan’s government hasn’t made an official comment on the expulsions, Interfax said.

America has about 1,000 military personnel deployed at Manas International Airport. The base, lying 620 miles from the Afghan capital, Kabul, is the closest America has to Afghanistan.