TASHKENT (Reuters) - Uzbekistan's agreement to open its airspace to U.S. military operations broadens Washington's options in planning a riposte to last month's attacks and marks a turning point in policy in the former Soviet Union. (Read photo caption below)
Uzbek President Islam Karimov announced the move after a meeting of top security officials on Monday. The country has the most sophisticated airfields in Central Asia and was the gateway for the Soviet Union to pour tens of thousands of troops into Afghanistan in 1979 -- and to bring them out nine years later.
Karimov was shown on Uzbek state television chairing a meeting of Uzbekistan's Security Council at which he voiced support for Washington in its self-declared war on terrorism..
Officials in Tashkent had earlier declined comment on the reported arrival of U.S. aircraft and diplomats in Uzbekistan
Georgia, though less strategically located several hundred miles to the west on the Black Sea, also offered use of its airspace, but made no reference to military purposes.
Security chiefs of ex-Soviet states in the Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States are wrapping up two days of talks on Tuesday in Tajikistan, which also borders Afghanistan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in close contact with Central Asian leaders since the September 11 attacks, flew on Monday to Belgium, where talks this week with NATO and European Union officials are likely to be dominated by terrorism.
Russia's Emergencies Ministry began dispatching aid to northern Afghan provinces, sending a plane with tents, blankets and sugar less than 24 hours after Putin urged it to do so.
Tajikistan, where Russia maintains more than 15,000 servicemen, has made no explicit offer on airspace, but Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said last week such a pledge could be forthcoming.
Rumors have swept Uzbekistan for days about U.S. aircraft flying in and out, with no Uzbek or U.S. confirmation.
Karimov has staged periodic crackdowns on the Uzbek opposition after surviving a 1999 assassination attempt by what were described as Muslim militants.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A Radar installation operates at an isolated Uzbek military base of Khanabad, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) south from the Afghan border in Uzbekistan, Monday, Oct.1, 2001. The well-maintained secrecy around military installations in this Central Asian country is just one reason why it offers U.S. forces a potential safe base to support retaliatory attacks against Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (AP Photo)
- Oct 01 1:12 PM ET