Washington Post - 09.17.2001

 

Uzbeks Eager to Join U.S. Alliance  
Afghanistan's Neighbor Stirred by Memory of 1999 Bombing 

By Peter Baker Washington Post Foreign Service

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Sept. 16 -- A bridal party pauses by the reflecting pool to pose for photographs. Parents stroll hand in hand with small children clutching balloons. The grand expanse of Independence Square, with its fountains and ornate buildings, gives no hint of the death and destruction that visited it two years ago.

But nothing can erase the memories of that day in February 1999 when a series of terrorist bombs reportedly planted by Islamic extremists around this Central Asian capital ripped into the square not far from where the cabinet was meeting and killed 16 people. And so, as the United States looks for allies for a potential military operation against terrorists in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan seems ready to enlist.

"We want to deal with the terrorists, too," said Abdumalik Yuldashov, 27, who trains soldiers at a military academy and pronounced himself eager to jump into a tank and head for the Afghan border. "Everybody's ready. Everybody's willing to help America."

In a part of the world where the United States could use some friends now, this obscure former Soviet republic of 24 million people may emerge as a key player. The countries that surround landlocked Afghanistan offer few reliable staging areas for a military strike -- Iran remains hostile to the United States, Pakistan has pledged support but has been close to the Taliban regime in Kabul, and Tajikistan today ruled out the use of its territory for a U.S. operation. All three have sponsored or served as a base for terrorists.

Uzbekistan, on the other hand, has been the region's leader in recent years in battling Islamic militants headquartered in Afghanistan and affiliated with Osama bin Laden. With U.S. help, President Islam Karimov has waged a fierce battle against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which is intent on establishing an Islamic state in the Ferghana Valley, which encompasses parts of three Central Asian countries.

Interviewed today on NBC News's "Meet the Press," Vice President Cheney said that bin Laden's "loose coalition of groupings" includes "a movement from Uzbekistan" that he did not name.

Karimov's government said today that it was open to allowing the United States to use Uzbek airspace or territory for an attack across its 80-mile border with Afghanistan, despite threats by the Taliban to retaliate against any neighbors that help America.

"We're prepared to discuss all the possible forms of cooperation in this respect," Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said in an interview today. Asked if that included the presence of U.S. troops in Uzbekistan, Kamilov said, "We're prepared to discuss any issue that would be conducive to eliminating terrorism in our region and strengthening stability."

The statement was especially significant for a country that has determinedly avoided military alliances since becoming independent when the Soviet Union collapsed 10 years ago.

The willingness to participate in a U.S. military coalition also defies Tashkent's former imperial masters in Moscow, who conquered this onetime crossroads on the fabled Silk Road in the 19th century and still treat the region as a Russian protectorate of sorts.

On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov declared that NATO should not even consider using Central Asia for military operations against Afghanistan. That appeared to have the desired effect in Tajikistan, where Russia has stationed troops to guard the border with Afghanistan. Tajik Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Sattarov said in Dushanbe today that reports suggesting Tajikistan might allow its territory to be used "by a third country to inflict strikes on military camps of the Taliban and international terrorists in Afghanistan are groundless."

Kamilov, however, brushed off Ivanov's warning. "We didn't assume any responsibility that we would always coordinate our foreign policy with anybody," he said. The top priority, he said, would be to target the extremists rather than the country, to aim for the "liquidation of terrorists, liquidation of bases, liquidation of all that would make sure the world would see no resurgence of terrorism."

The United States has made no specific requests of Uzbekistan, but Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said today that one would come soon. "We will be talking to the Uzbek authorities," he said on CNN's "Late Edition" without elaborating.

Any assault on Afghanistan could ricochet to Uzbekistan even if it does not participate, given the likelihood of refugees and even retribution. Karimov's government almost surely will seek more protection than the infrared goggles and two-way radios the United States has provided in the past.

"Uzbekistan is very fearful of the vengeance of the Taliban, and they're not sure how long security would be guaranteed by the United States," said Anvar Nazirov, a researcher at the French Institute for Study of Central Asia. "What will happen after the military operation? What will Russia's reaction be? One can imagine how difficult a situation this is."

The U.S. argument will undoubtedly be that destroying the Taliban would be the best guarantee of all. "Since it's next to Afghanistan, Central Asia might be a spot where extremists might try to strike back," acknowledged a senior Western diplomat here. "But I think it's also true if we deal a devastating blow to extremists in Afghanistan, it would be the last gasp."

That's a logic that resonates with at least some Uzbeks, who are eager to end the threat emanating from Afghanistan once and for all. "They're our neighbor. It's very dangerous," said Sukhrob Maxudov, 26, a financial officer who works with banks. But "if the entire world will rise against terrorism, then the Taliban won't matter. They're nothing."