Tajikistan

The Uzbek Foreign Ministry refused to offer its airspace to the United States for its military strikes against Taleban-controlled Afghanistan, reported Russia's official Itar-Tass news agency on September 17th. Asked by reporters about foreign media reports that Uzbekistan was ready to offer its airspace and airfields to the US, a ministry spokesman said he could not confirm his country's willingness to provide such support for the US.

Earlier, Tajik Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Sattarov said such reports "are absolutely unfounded." The Government of Tajikistan, another former Soviet republic bordering Afghanistan, has officially refused to provide an air corridor for US air raids on Bin Laden's terrorist bases in Afghanistan, where the alleged prime suspect in Tuesday's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington is welcome.

Russia's Defense Minister, Sergei Ivanov, announced on Sunday that Russia's 201st division in Tajikistan had been put on the "red alert." He also denied reports that the Tajik Government is prepared to put its territory at the disposal of US troops for military strikes against Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Tajikistan has tightened security along its borders with Afghanistan as well as at vital sites. The Chairman of the Tajik Government's Border Committee, General Saidanvar Kamolov, said that Tajik border troops and border troop reserves have been alerted. "We have enough equipment and ammunition to prevent any provocation or act of sabotage," said the general. On September 16th, Russia said that it would not let the US use any Commonwealth of Independent States countries for its retaliatory military operation against Afghanistan.

Note: President Putin later changed these directives, permitting Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to help US operations against the Taleban. But he remembers that the United States and Pakistan drove two governments friendly to the Soviet Union from Afghanistan - the second one with the Taleban's help. Whatever his views on terrorism, he can have no interest in Afghanistan falling under American influence. However, he can be relied upon to keep the Taleban out of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and to aid the Afghan "Northern Alliance" in its bid to end Taleban rule in Afghanistan.