o concentration of Taliban forces in direct proximity to the Tajik-Afghan border has been observed and, on the whole, the situation remains stable, a high-ranking officer of the Russian Border Group in Tajikistan told Itar-Tass on Friday.

Commenting on reports by some foreign media about the emergence of Taliban groups opposite the Moskovsky and Panj border guarding detachments, the officer at the same time admitted that "a package of preventive measures have been taken in those border sectors of late, including those to enhance the border guarding density". "Any armed provocations on the part of any forces will be resolutely cut short," the officer emphasised.

As for the situation in the Termez border sector (Uzbekistan), independent foreign experts in Dushanbe "partially confirm " information on a concentration of Taliban forces in the area of the Afghan port city of Khairaton. Although, according to a version expressed by one of the observers, this fact is hardly connected with the latest threats to the Central Asia republics on the part of the military leaders of the Taliban movement.

he Shanghai Five summit will held in Dushanbe on July 5, 2000, the presidential press service reported on Thursday.

This date has been thrashed out with all members of the Shanghai Five, which includes Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the press service told Itar-Tass.

Earlier, the summit should be convened at the end of May. But due to some reasons, it was postponed. The summit is expected to focus on regional security, interaction in the fight against international terrorism and religious extremism, and border problems, the press service added.

fghanistan's ruling Taleban movement on Thursday protested against alleged air violations by neighbouring Uzbekistan and warned it of dire consequences, but the ex-Soviet republic denied the charges.

"The Islamic Emirate...rejects this kind of provocative and illogical aggression and tells Uzbekistan that a repetition of such irresponsible acts in the future could cause unpleasant incidents," a Taleban Foreign Ministry statement said.

It said Uzbekistan would bear responsibility for the grave consequences. Uzbekistan dismissed the accusations, calling it an attempt at "disinforming" the public.

"The Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan categorically denies this information of the so-called violation of Afghan airspace by Uzbek aircraft," a ministry official told Reuters in Tashkent.

Earlier on Thursday, the Taleban wrote to the United Nations protesting against the alleged violations of its airspace by Uzbek jets on Tuesday and Wednesday, Pakistan-based Afghan news service reported.

A Taleban foreign ministry letter delivered by its embassy in Islamabad to the U.N. office in the Pakistani capital drew U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's attention to the violations, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.

It quoted the protest letter as saying Uzbekistan would be responsible for "dangerous consequences" if violations continued.

It said the Taleban confirmed that the aircraft had taken off from Termez in southern Uzbekistan and violated the airspace north of the northern Afghan town of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The reports of the incidents follow repeated threats by Russia in the past week that it could launch preventive air strikes on Afghanistan if the Taleban continued to help Chechen rebels.

Russian officials say the rebels from the breakaway republic of Chechnya and Islamic fundamentalist groups from former Soviet Central Asian states receive military training in Afghanistan, charges denied by the Taleban, which has said it would take unspecified action if Russia resorts to an attack.

The Taleban has also warned Moscow that it would hold neighbouring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, both former Soviet republics, responsible for any Russian military action against about 90 percent of Afghanistan it controls.

An anti-Taleban alliance, which controls the remaining 10 percent of Afghanistan, said on Wednesday that any Russian air strikes to punish the Taleban for allegedly training Chechen rebels would not eliminate what it called "terrorist" activities.

An alliance statement called for more U.N. pressure on the Taleban, which is the only government to recognise Chechnya as a country but which denies running any Chechen training camps.

The opposition statement said any Russian air strikes would be as ineffective as the 1998 U.S. cruise missile strikes on alleged camps in southeastern Afghanistan run by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden, wanted by the United States for allegedly masterminding the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed more than 200 people, was not hurt in the attacks and the Taleban has refused repeated U.S. requests to expel him.

The statement said the U.N. Security Council should take "further" measures against the Taleban for harbouring bin Laden after last November's aviation and financial sanctions.

An opposition official said further pressure could be put on the Taleban by banning fuel exports to Afghanistan.

Russian officials have said rebels from Chechnya and Islamic fundamentalist groups from Central Asia receive military training in Afghanistan, charges denied by the Taleban, which has threatened to take unspecified action if Russia attacks.

The statement said the opposition alliance, which the Taleban ousted from power more than three years ago, was alarmed by the latest deterioration of the situation in and around Afghanistan.

Although Russian officials have issued warnings to the Taleban, they have been careful to rule out a repeat of the Soviet Union's disastrous war in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

he Fidokorlar [Self-sacrificers] National Democratic Party [of Uzbekistan] held its first congress in Tashkent. The delegates of the first congress of Fidokorlar National Democratic Party have to consider a number of complicated issues. One hundred and seventy delegates from all Regions including from the Republic of Karakalpakstan will be considering and approving a number of issues on the agenda of the congress. Above all, they are introducing amendments and addenda to the party's regulations, amendments and addenda to the party's programme, on the party's newspaper, on electing the members of the Central Board, revision and control commission of the Fidokorlar National Democratic Party.

After discussions the delegates of the congress approved the party's new edition of the regulations and the programme of the Fidokorlar National Democratic Party, they also elected the leadership of the party's Central Council. Ahtam Tursunov was elected first secretary of the Fidokorlar National Democratic Party, Shoira Umarova, Asliddin Boliyev, Ahmad A'zam and Nigmatulla Ibrohimov were elected secretaries of the party. With this the congress ended its work.

he Pakistani `Observer' newspaper, quoting a Taleban official, wrote that the Taleban group had mobilized 12,000 new forces in an area bordering Uzbekistan. According to information from Islamabad, the Pakistani `Observer' added that a political representative of the Taleban group [Taleban ambassador to Pakistan], Mowlawi Mohammad Haqqani, had said in Pakistan that these fresh forces were stationed in Hayraton [in northern Balkh Province]. This newspaper, quoting Taleban sources, said this group was now completely ready for a possible response from Uzbekistan.

It must be mentioned that a few days ago a number of Pakistani media sources had reported that eight civilians were killed as a result of the Taleban forces' attack on Uzbekistan from a Hayraton border area. The Pakistani media had aslo reported that the Taleban group were mobilizing forces for a possible response from Uzbekistan.

zbek President Islam Karimov received the OSCE chairman-in-office, Austrian Foreign Minister Benita-Maria Ferrero-Waldner, June 2. President Karimov stressed that this visit might serve to take cooperation between Uzbekistan and the OSCE to a higher level. After he had stressed the need to expand the existing relations, Karimov said Uzbekistan was actually pursuing this goal.

In this respect, Karimov recalled that Uzbekistan actively participated in the work of this ogranization, particularly at the latest OSCE summit. Uzbekistan also participated in drawing up a final document of this summit.

Drawing attention to that Benita-Maria Ferrero-Waldner was not only the OSCE chairman-in-office but also the Austrian foreign minister, the head of our state also expressed his views on the development of bilateral Uzbek-Austrian relations. The OSCE chairman-in-office, Austrian Foreign Minister Benita-Maria Ferrero-Waldner, expressed her gratitude for the reception and said the OSCE was in favour of further developing cooperation with Uzbekistan. She stressed that the current state of the implementation of mutual projects corresponded to the goals. Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov and the head of the OSCE Central Asian bereau, Gancho Ganchev, attended the reception.

xcerpt from report by Ilya Kedrov entitled: 'Islamic students' foul the trail"; published by the Russian newspaper 'Nezavisimaya Gazeta' on 2nd June

The Russian leadership's warnings of possible preventive measures against the Taleban, who are training gunmen for Chechen bandit formations, have provoked an irritable reaction not only from Afghanistan but also in neighbouring Pakistan. Reports came in from Islamabad yesterday that several thousand Taleban had already taken up positions along the Amu-Darya River on the border with Uzbekistan on the pretext of rebuffing the northern threat, siting artillery and multiple rocket launchers on high ground. The Afghan news agency circulated a report that over the last few days Uzbekistani aircraft have violated Afghanistan's airspace on three occasions: aircraft of an unidentified type, which took off from an airfield in Termez, carried out sorties in the region of Mazar-e-Sharif.

To all appearances, both these reports are nothing more than part of a news war. Your `Nezavisimaya Gazeta' correspondent was told by a representative of one of the Russian power structures that the "Islamic students'" main forces are still massed against the Northern Alliance's formations and they have no intention of weakening this front by redeploying several thousand fighters, never mind artillery systems, to the Uzbekistani border.

As long as the Russian leadership has not taken any specific decisions regarding pre-emptive operations against the Taleban, the warplanes can only be flying over Afghan territory for reconnaissance purposes. The Uzbekistani air force has 11 Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft in its arsenal. Maintaining these aircraft in a state of combat readiness requires complex inspection and maintenance work and, according to Russian military experts, the Uzbekistani Su-24MRs are hardly in working order. Hence the reports regarding Uzbekistani aircraft violation of Afghanistan's airspace can also, to all appearances, be viewed as attempts by the Taleban and their allies to divert attention from the impending offensive against the troops of the Northern Alliance. It is also quite possible that Kabul is trying to put psychological pressure on the Uzbekistani leadership with a view to making it abandon its involvement in a possible CIS operation against the Taleban. Such a move on Tashkent's part would threaten to wreck a military operation against the "Islamic students" since the main airfields from which the Russian air force could strike Afghanistan are situated on this republic's territory...

or two days, Uzbekistan's jet fighters violated our country's airspace. Bakhtar Information agency reported that following Russian threats of air strikes against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, for two days, Uzbekistan's jet fighters on three occasions violated the airspace of our country in Kaldar [Samangan] and Hayraton areas of Balkh Province and this irresponsible act by the Republic of Uzbekistan is against all international norms and is a blatant breach of the UN Charter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has expressed its strong protest in [words indistinct] separate letters to the UN secretary-general and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan and places all responsibility for such acts of aggression and their further consequences on the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Source: Radio Voice of Shari'ah, Kabul

he Afghan Taleban movement is concentrating forces on the border with Uzbekistan on the pretext of "warding off the threat" of possible pre-emptive strikes by Russia against Afghanistan from the territory of its Central Asian allies.

According to reports coming in here, several thousand Taleban have already taken up positions near the inhabited locality of Hayratan (Balkh Province) along the border river Amudarya. There is information to the effect that the Taleban have occupied all the commanding heights in border areas, deploying artillery and multiple rocket launchers.

The Defence Ministry in the Taleban administration has held an urgent meeting, attended by High Command personnel, in order to work out a strategic plan of action in the sector.

ssues of climate changes have been discussed at a scientific seminar which was held in Tashkent and organized by Glavgidromet [Main Hydrometeorological Service] of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Central Asian Scientific Research Institute for Hydrometeorology with the support of USAID.

"Climate changes on the planet," the head of Glavgidromet, Victor Chub, said opening the seminar, "have created a threat to many regions of the world. These changes will result in exhaustion of water and food resources, breaking the present infrastructure, population migration, even people's deaths. Future changes would also influence Central Asia. For this reason it is important to be prepared on time for these changes and to be armed with the necessary knowledge, and to maintain a stable and safe development of the country [Uzbekistan]. This is the goal of the seminar."

Scientists from hydrometeorological scientific centres, the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, the National University [of Uzbekistan, former Tashkent State University], Institute for water issues, and a number of agencies have taken part in the discussion on the issue of climate changes. It has been said that we are living in the warmest century of the last millennium, and the 1990s were the warmest years in our century. On a global scale, in the last century, global warming has been 0.3-0.6 degrees centigrade. During the same period, the average annual temperature in Tashkent increased by 1.2 degrees centigrade. On the whole, it has increased all over our country. Because of this rivers have become shallow, there is desertification, the frequency of droughts has increased.

These processes are a product of man's environmentally unfriendly activity. As a result of warming, the line between the zones of dry tropical climate and moderate climate has shifted by 150-200 km to the north, and high-altitude climate zones upwards by 150-200 metres, the duration of frostless periods has increased by 8-15 days. The changes have had a positive influence on the growth and productivity of most agricultural crops and cereals. An increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere also helped this. In future, scientists forecast growth in the productivity of cotton by 11 per cent in all Regions of the republic [of Uzbekistan] if provision of humidity is optimal.

ay 30th, a government delegation [of Tajikistan] led by Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov was in [the Uzbek capital] Tashkent to discuss the current situation and the further deepening of cooperation between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Asia-Plus news agency learned from the presidential press centre of Tajikistan on 31st May that during the one-day visit a face-to-face meeting was held between the prime ministers of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Oqil Oqilov and Otkir Sultonov.

At the same time the Tajik delegation members met their Uzbek colleagues. The sides agreed to set up a joint intergovernmental Uzbek-Tajik commission on priority trends of bilateral cooperation. Members of the talks considered issues of cooperation in the realm of transportation and communications. The sides instructed the communications, air, railway and motor transport administrations to jointly consider nd resolve issues of opening air communications, as well as to resolve technical issues of serving passengers and aircraft, including issues of linking up flights for flying to third countries.

Within a month the sides will consider the resumption of the movement of traffic via the checkpoints of Gulbahor, Pungan and Shirin, and also the opening of motor vehicle traffic on the Khujand - Kurkat - Zafarobod highway. Likewise, the parties to the talks considered issues of the delimitation of the state frontiers between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; measures for guaranteeing water supply if there is a shortage of water and measures for developing cooperation. The prime ministers of the two countries signed the protocol which had been drawn up on these issues.

Likewise, agreements were signed between the governments of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on coordinating radio frequency allocations on the radio band frequencies of 30 - 1,000 mHz used by radio listeners of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and on joint measures and cooperation in providing timely information in the event that Lake Sarez bursts through its walls.

he Afghan Taleban movement is concentrating forces on the border with Uzbekistan on the pretext of "warding of the threat" of possible pre-emptive strikes by Russia against Afghanistan from the territory of its Central Asian allies.

According to reports coming in here, several thousand Taleban have already taken up positions near the inhabited locality of Hairaton (Balkh Province) along the border river Amudarya. There is information to the effect that the Taleban have occupied all the commanding heights in border areas, deploying artillery and multiple rocket launchers.

The Defence Ministry in the Taleban administration has held an urgent meeting, attended by High Command personnel, in order to work out a strategic plan of action in the sector.

he second session of the Supreme Assembly of the Republic of Uzbekistan [Uzbek parliament] of the second convocation has started its work on May 25. President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov is attending the session.

The chairman of the Supreme Assembly, Erkin Khalilov, took the floor on the first issue on the agenda: on the priorities of the legislative and monitoring work of committees and commissions of the Supreme Assembly of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2000-2002 proceeding from the speech of the president of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, at the first session of the Supreme Assembly of the second convocation.

When it was proposed to put [Khalilov's] report to the vote without debate, the Uzbek president took the floor. Among other things he said:

Should each party work in line with their programmes? Let's take the Russian parliament as an example. Should we use their advanced experience. Each party there gets prepared for the parliament's work in advance. They say: we have already prepared a package of documents. For example there the SPS [Russ: Soyuz pravykh sil], what will that be in Uzbek, the Union of Right-Wing Forces. From this point of view, each party there has their own proposals meeting their interests on the draft laws being considered in parliament. They are trying to put their drafts on the agenda, aren't they? Take for example other parties there.

What sort of effort is their Communist Party? How they are struggling! How they are trying to introduce their proposals into draft laws! A struggle is taking place there. Shall I cite another example. Take for example parliaments in the West, in France, Germany, Great Britain or in other countries. A struggle is going on there. Three or four parities are struggling for their interests. What is the aim of telling this to you? Such issues are still being handled in the old way. Someone prepares them, some read, others not, and approving a document by just raising hands is something reminiscent of the past. I, personally, do not like it. It was not in my plans to take the floor on this issue. But I was forced to do this. When there was a proposal to put it to the vote, I was forced to address you, to awaken you. What are we doing? Is it correct?

zbek President Islam Karimov has said that Uzbekistan's soldiers will not fight outside the country, and has called for "radical structural changes" to build a smaller army capable of coping with the conditions in Uzbekistan. Karimov was speaking at a session of parliament which opened on 25th May; excerpts from his address were carried on Uzbek radio:

"What we need to do now is to introduce radical structural changes into our army. Currently our army operates as a constituent part of the old Soviet army. Times have changed, yet our army is old. Its structure is old. The tasks set before it are also old. Our soldiers and officers are set the same tasks today as they were during [Second World War] military operations in the fields of Belarussia [Belarus] and Ukraine. That means big divisions, big companies and things like that.

Who is drawing conclusions from the Afghan war? Who is analysing it? Why was the former Soviet army forced to withdraw from Afghanistan? An army 100,000-strong could do nothing. What is currently taking place in Chechnya? What kind of war is going on there? How can one understand the war in Chechnya? What are the rules of the war there? If you have noticed, life poses more and more new requirements. The methods which we were using yesterday in training soldiers absolutely do not meet the present-day requirements. We will not be able to use these methods if a misfortune befalls us. This kind of army cannot defend us. I have been working on this issue for two years already. The conclusion is that we should change our army. How we will do it?

"I should tell you one thing. We need a compact army. We do not need a big army, but our army should ensure its superiority in our conditions, in conditions of the borders, in the conditions of neighbouring countries. No more shall we fight on the fields of Belorussia [Belarus] or Ukraine fields or the plains. Now, we will not leave the borders of our country. Why do we need to set up divisions and companies and run and crying hurrah on the plains? We do not need such an army.

Why? Because as leader of this country, I want to say that our boys will not leave the borders of our country and take part in wars.

"If we want to protect our own home and only our own borders, in the conditions of mountainous Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya borders or Fergana borders, or in the conditions of Dzhizak mountains or Fergana and Andizhan mountains, in northern mountains of Namangan [areas in southern and eastern Uzbekistan], we should adapt our army to these conditions. Do you understand me?"

he Uzbek authorities are planning to commission a soda plant in the Ustyurt plateau of northwestern Uzbek Karakalpakstan in 2001, the Uzbek newspaper `Qishloq Hayoti' reported in an article published on 26th May.

The finishing touches are being put on the plant, which has taken five years and cost 654.2m dollars to build, the plant's director responsible for construction, Revo Davlatyorov, said. Once in full operation it will have an annual production capacity of 380,000 tonnes of calcium and 20,000 t of food soda, the paper said. It added that a modern industrial town had also been under construction round the plant.

well-known British firm, Chemical Export-Import, has gone into partnership with the Bukharateks [Bukhara textile] joint-stock company to set up the Alatteks joint venture to manufacture fabric for men's shirts, the director of the association's spinning mill, J. Abdunazarov told a Turkiston Press national news agency correspondent. The mill he manages will become the basis for setting up the joint venture. Foreign entrepreneurs will supply 20 up-to-date looms to make output to international quality standards.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has already allocated a 5m-dollar credit for this. British specialists will also be involved in the start-up and adjustment work. Alatteks is to produce 5.9m linear metres of fabric a year.

zbek president Islam Karimov said the Uzbek air force is capable of striking terrorist bases in Afghanistan without Russian help. Interviewed by the Russian newspaper `Kommersant', Karimov said the threat was only a "trial balloon" for the time being but he warned the Afghans of the danger of setting up the camps. He said Uzbekistan needed Russian arms and technical support and gave some details of the Uzbek military reform.

The following is the text of the report, published on 26th May:

The European press has taken seriously the threat to strike against Islamic terrorist camps. The problem directly affects Uzbekistan, which is countering terrorists in the south and against which gunmen trained in Chechnya are fighting. In conversation with `Kommersant' correspondent Yuriy Chernogayev yesterday [25th May] the country's president, Islam Karimov, gave his assessment of the situation.

[Chernogayev] Islam Abduganiyevich, there is a view in Russia that Russian soldiers are going to be fighting in Asia again.

[Karimov] Certain Russian State Duma deputies are perturbed: "We are going to be defending the Uzbeks from Islamic terrorists." We do not need this. Please tell Russia, there is no need to defend us. Should people come to our country and die on Uzbekistan's borders? There is no need to shed blood on our behalf. Uzbeks are capable of responding blow for blow themselves. Having said that, we need equipment and armaments in order to defend ourselves.

[Q] However, there is information that the air defences of the Central Asian region, including Uzbekistan, are being created with the participation of the Russian military?

[A] We intend to use joint forces to defend only our air space, and this accord has already been placed on record. The question of ground forces has not even been discussed.

[Q] You first mentioned possible strikes against terrorist camps in October 1999; has this possibility become more real in May 2000? It is well known that the Uzbek air force, modernized with Russian support, is now ready to attack the camps.

[A] As far as so-called preventive strikes against the Taleban camps in Afghanistan are concerned, no one is seriously considering this at the moment, although in Minsk [Russian Foreign Minister] Igor Ivanov stated this yet again. But Russian TV is now staging a live national debate: "Are you in favour of a strike or against?" I can reassure them all, including the Afghans: we are ready in principle to do this, but specifically at the moment this is only a trial balloon. Nevertheless, it must be clear: to create terrorist camps in your own country is to violate the norms of international law, and this is dangerous for the country that is hosting the bandits.

[Q] The treaty on military and military-technical cooperation signed in December 1999 during Vladimir Putin's first visit to Uzbekistan, which was fleshed out with new accords during his second visit in May, presupposes the development of 28 specific military cooperation projects. Can you describe some of them?

[A] We have surface-to-air missile systems, for instance. Not as powerful as the S-300s that some boast of (out of all Uzbekistan's neighbours, only Kazakhstan has S-300 systems - `Kommersant'), but extremely formidable weapons.

There are also several Tochka systems. All these are good weapons, but they now require recertification. For a missile to be reliable, it must be periodically certified. We also need to restock with ammunition for our missile systems. The next one of the 28 Russian-Uzbek military cooperation projects is connected with helicopters. We have combat helicopters, of Russian design, of course. They must be repaired. We intend to create a joint venture for the refurbishment of aviation equipment, and also to organize the delivery of spare parts via it.

The third project is communications. We need totally new principles for the organization of radio communications via satellite, and so forth.

[Q] Military equipment is still in the hands of soldiers. Uzbek soldiers will now serve in an army based on totally new principles. What is this army, which Russian soldiers will be standing alongside on the southern borders of the CIS, like?

[A] We chose as one of the principles for the new Uzbek army: "Cherish soldiers' lives above all." So we intend to increase the infantry's firepower many times over, and I see the example of the Russian army in Chechnya here. That is how they fight there: first they cover the area with artillery fire, and only then do the soldiers go in. It is not the way it used to be: Hurrah, forward for the sake of the motherland and somebody else. We too are no longer going to drive off on tanks and shout "Hurrah!", we are going to fight in a new way.

It must be borne in mind that we are not asking for anything for free. If Russia gave us even one artillery shell for free, certain Russian generals would burst from the strain.

[Q] Is the programme of Russian-Uzbek military cooperation only part of the programme for the modernization of the Uzbek army?

[A] We intend to entirely abandon the "Soviet" system of manpower acquisition and troop organization. The basis of the Uzbek army is now the 14-man combat group; three groups form a platoon, to which artillery is attached, including self-propelled guns, tanks, and flame throwers. The next level is the battalion. Two or three battalions and their equipment are stationed in each of the five military operational districts created in the country. In addition, "ranger" subunits are being created - two such battalions have already been stationed on the southern border. ("Marines" with powerful pontoon units, amphibious vehicles, and gunboats have also been set up for operations on the Amu-Darya - `Kommersant'.)

I spent two years working on this reform. We already have the strongest army in Central Asia, and now it will be even stronger. It will be an army of special units, a small but powerful army. A shock army. However, this does not mean that we intend to fight outside our own borders. As president I say: Our soldiers will not fight in Kabul. But Russia needs a strong ally in the south, and it has one.

he second session of the Supreme Assembly of the Republic of Uzbekistan of the second convocation ended its work today. Sports issues were also debated; new edition of the law on physical training and sport which was adopted in 1992 was considered; President Karimov promised big dollar prizes to Olympic Games winners.

Speaking on this subject, President Karimov said that the current state of the Pakhtakor team, which once was the symbol and pride of Uzbek football, was to be thought more serously.

[Karimov] I don't know what you think about the reasons for the current state of the capital's Pakhtakor football team, which once had a good reputation in the world, but generally speaking, looking at it objectively, nobody can be happy with the current state of this team.

Excuse me [to Makhsitov, sports minister], but I think that those sitting here might agree with me on this, so you want us to go the pitch to root for Pakhtakor, do you?

[Makhsitov] No, we ourselves will improve it.

[Karimov] We have to improve Pakhtakor's level. It is, if you like, our sacred duty. What do you think? [applause] Those sitting from Namangan, Fergana, Kashkadarya and Karshi [eastern and southern Uzbekistan towns] may look at this differently, but you have to know that Pakhtakor should remain Pakhtakor.

The treaty between the states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on fighting terrorism, political and religious extremism, international organized crime and those who pose a threat to the stability and security of the sides was ratified. There was one more ratification. Deputies of the Supreme Assembly ratified the (?Hadley) treaty on the institutional basis for setting up the interstate system for oil and gas transportation. The issues of amending the composition of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Economic Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan were also considered at the end of the session. In other words, candidates for the posts of judges of both supreme courts were proposed for deputies' consideration. All candidates for judges were endorsed in their posts.

ext of report by Afghan Islamic Press news agency on 26th May

Peshawar: The Taleban leader has said that if a attack is made upon Afghanistan, Uzbekistan will bear the responsibility for all the consequences. A spokesman for the Taleban leader, Mola Mohammad Omar, circulated a statement in Kandahar late in last night. In the statement he said the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, had made the plan to launch an attack on Afghanistan during his recent visit to Uzbekistan and it was decided that the Uzbek air force would carry out air strikes on Uzbek refugee camps in Afghanistan. As Uzbekistan is not able to bear responsibility at the international level for this, the Russian Federation has accepted the responsibility for the aftermath of the attacks.

Mola Mohammad Omar [the Taleban supreme leader] said that Uzbekistan can by no means avoid the responsibility for such attacks. Our reaction will be bitter towards that, he said. He added that there was no terrorist camp or a Chechen fighters' centre in Afghanistan. He warned once again in the end of his statement that in the event Russia made an attack on Afghanistan, Uzbekistan would be face serious consequences and bear the responsibility for it.

group of armed drug pushers, who sailed across the Amudarya [river dividing Uzbekistan from Afghanistan], has been detained thanks to the joint action by border guards and police experts.

At midnight, the acting head of the Muzrabad District's [in southern Surkhandarya Region] police directorate of internal affairs, Lt-Col (E. Khodzhakulov), received an urgent report that the group had crossed the border and infiltrated our rear. He raised the alarm, gathered the staff of the District police directorate and gave the instruction to block the nearby villages and roads which are close to the frontier post and check everything around.

Six people led by the deputy head [of the police directorate], Capt (Khayriddin Rakhimov), received the instruction to go to the Kungirot collective farm which was very close to the border. The policemen left their car at the eighth department and combed the village's territory. No success. Nothing suspicious.

A drunk man staggering along the side of the road caught the attention of the police. Giving in to the insistent demands to empty his pockets, he pulled out 14 packages with narcotics and said he had got them from the Afghans hiding in his house.

Rakhimov and his subordinates surrounded the house quickly and silently, entered the cellar where the border trespassers were hiding. One of them pulled out a pistol, but was unable to fire a shot - after a lightning move the trespasser found himself on the floor and without the gun. The rest realized that resistance was useless and surrendered. The specialists from District and Regional centres who arrived to lend support sent the citizens of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan [as received] to [administrative centre of Surkhandarya Region] Termez. The arms and drugs are eloquent witnesses of the purpose of the trespassers' visit to Uzbekistan. A criminal case has been opened and an investigation is under way.

he second session of the Supreme Assembly of the Republic of Uzbekistan of the second convocation continued its work in Tashkent on 26th May. President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov took part in the parliament session. Chairman of the Supreme Assembly E.[Erkin] Khalilov chaired the session.

After that the deputies adopted a resolution on the Republic of Uzbekistan signing up to the convention on international financial leasing of the United Nation's International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), ratified a treaty between the republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan on joint actions to fight terrorism, political and religious extremism, transnational organized crime and other threats to the stability and security of the parties to the treaty, ratified a framework agreement on an institutional basis for setting up interstate systems for transporting oil and gas, and approved certain presidential decrees and resolutions by the Council of the Supreme Assembly. The parliament also issued a resolution relieving Khabibulayev of his post as chairman of the parliamentary committee for environmental affairs and protection of nature, due to his retirement, and introduced changes into the membership of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Economic Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

It re-elected M.[Mirzoulughbek] Abdusalomov as chairman of the Supreme Economic Court. This that the second session of the Supreme Assembly of the Republic of Uzbekistan of the second convocation ended its work.