TASHKENT, Oct 5: Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov said on Friday that he opposed the use of Uzbek territory to launch ground attacks or air strikes on Afghanistan.
“We are against the use of our territory in land operations against Afghanistan. We are against air strikes on Afghanistan,” Karimov said following talks here with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Uzbekistan, however, granted the United States use of an airfield and other facilities for aircraft, helicopters and the stationing of personnel for search-and-rescue missions linked to an eventual military operation in Afghanistan.
Karimov said the aircraft and helicopters that are to be based in Uzbekistan would be used only for humanitarian missions.
A US official with Rumsfeld said 1,000 United States elite troops were en route to Uzbekistan in the first major deployment of US ground forces in the showdown with Afghanistan.
The official said the troops’ mission would be to provide protection for US military operations.
Asked why Uzbekistan would not allow special forces to operate from its territory, Karimov said: “We are not quite ready for this.”
Rumsfeld, for his part, said there were no “quid pro quos” in the US-Uzbekistan cooperation.
“The two countries have met, they have talked and worked out a series of arrangements that make sense from both of our standpoints,” the defence secretary said.
“We have no secret deal, no covert negotiations with the United States,” Karimov said.
Uzbekistan and the United States are working on a document that will spell out the commitment and guarantees from each side, and which will be made public once concluded.—AFP
TASHKENT, Oct 5: Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov said on Friday that he opposed the use of Uzbek territory to launch ground attacks or air strikes on Afghanistan.
