Ранее президент Узбекистана Ислам Каримов подчеркивал недопустимость осуществление наземных боевых операций против Афганистана с территории Узбекистана. Не разрешается также осуществление бомбовых, штурмовых операций по целям в Афганистане с территории республики.

Между тем, согласно неофициальным данным, в настоящее время на узбекском аэродроме Ханабад уже находится группа технических специалистов ВВС США, которые занимаются подготовкой аэродрома к приему транспортной авиации США. Власти заявляют, что американские транспортные самолеты и вертолеты будут использованы "в гуманитарных целях или для проведения поисково-спасательных операций".

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Так, по его словам, если Узбекистан после окончания операции "будет лишен тяжелого присутствия США" на своей территории, это может означать, что "союз" между США и Узбекистаном в форме "патронирования одного государства другим не вечен".

При этом Малашенко напомнил, что Узбекистан все время "стремился к лидерству" в Центральной Азии, что может быть обеспечено, по мнению политолога, только при наличии "внешней поддержки" Узбекистана именно от США.

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Today some foreign mass media are again starting to speculate on the degree of Uzbekistan's participation in the US bombing of Afghanistan, the release reads.

In this connection, the Uzbek Defence Ministry states that the republic's position on this matter remains unchanged and "no ground fighting and bombing of Afghanistan will be conducted from the territory of Uzbekistan".

Uzbek "military units now have everything to repel those who try to attack the independence and territorial integrity of the republic", the release reads.

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The government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the government of the United State of America recognize international terrorism to be a serious threat to peace and to global and regional stability. They therefore signed on 7 October this year an agreement which creates a firm basis for bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism. Our countries will work closely for the creation of a more secure future not only for the people of Central Asia but also for people all over the world.

Our common fight is directed against terrorism but not against the Afghan people, and we will cooperate in the field of rendering humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan.

We are also determined to destroy international terrorism and its infrastructure. For these purposes the republic of Uzbekistan has agreed to make available its air space and the necessary military and civil infrastructure of one of his airports, which will be used in the first place for humanitarian purposes.

Our governments have decided to establish qualitatively new relations based on long-term adherence to the cause of strengthening security and regional stability. We recognize the necessity of close cooperation in the fight against terrorism. This includes the need for immediate consultations with the aim of drawing up the relevant measures in the event of a direct threat to the security and territorial integrity of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

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Оперативно-розыскная группа выдвинула версию, что картины уже могли быть вывезены в соседний Казахстан. Как сообщили в пресс-службе ГУВД Южно-Казахстанской области, ГУВД Ташкента уже прислало казахским коллегам "ориентировку особой важности".

Стали известны названия похищенных полотен: "Закаты в степи" Айвазовского, "Княгиня Оболенская" Тропинина, "Турчанка" Брюллова, "Девочка с красным бантом" Крамского и этюд Сурикова к картине "Утро стрелецкой казни".

В прошлом году уже была предпринята попытка хищения самых ценных экспонатов коллекции музея искусств - картин "Венера с яблоком" Томазо Солари и "Купальщица" Беллони. Двух преподавателей республиканского художественного училища, которые делали с картин копии с расчетом подменить оригиналы, вовремя разоблачили.

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Uzbek border with Afghanistan at the Khayraton bridge

Gen. Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek who was born in 1954 in the northern Afghan province of Jowzian, is leading anti-Taliban forces trying to recapture the key city of Mazar-e-Sharif, 40 miles away from Termez across the Amu-Darya River - and the only bridge heading to Afghanistan.

U.S.-led strikes against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and Osama bin Laden's terrorist network have also focused on Mazar-e-Sharif as a target to push out the Taliban, who have controlled the town since 1998 after winning it in bloody battles against the opposition, including forces loyal to Dostum.

For centuries, Uzbek fighters have been a powerful force in the region - going back to the days of the legendary Tamerlane, born near Samarkand in the 14th century. His empire stretched through Persia, and he launched expeditions into Anatolia and the Caucasus. Tamerlane even began an invasion of China at the time of his death in 1405.

The countries of Central Asia as they now stand are merely an invention of the Soviet Union, which divided up the vast region once known as Turkestan in the 1920s according to rough estimates of ethnic balance, difficult to demarcate for a people that camped near desert oases or roamed as nomads.

That division is what gave Uzbekistan its wild shape, twisting from deserts in the west through narrow valleys in the east to straddle the entire region and border on Afghanistan and all four other Soviet ``stan'' republics: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbekistan was the fifth largest Soviet republic and its largest Muslim republic after the division, and is now home to some 24 million people - 80 percent of whom are considered ethnic Uzbeks, with Russians and Tajiks being the next largest groups at around 5 percent each.

The Soviet division of Turkestan also left an estimated 2.5 million ethnic Uzbeks living across a tightly sealed border, including General Dostum. Border restrictions - although still tight - did ease when Uzbekistan gained independence following the 1991 Soviet collapse.

Dostum is now in northern Afghanistan. But when he visits Uzbekistan these days, he is treated with the same dignity as a head of state. In Termez, he also stays in a guest house normally used by Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Dostum also has a residence in the capital, Tashkent.

In Mazar-e-Sharif, Dostum was a revered leader before the Taliban took over. Dostum's picture, with his bushy mustache and salt-and-pepper hair, adorned buildings and signposts across the town.

The city is the largest in the north, and if it fell from Taliban hands it would likely mean that they would be pushed entirely from the area back to the south.

At Dostum's house on a nondescript sidestreet in Termez, his few remaining underlings try to glean what they can about their general's situation by watching satellite TV. A boy cautiously opens the door, wearing a long, beige Afghan shirt - giving view of the courtyard with its raised platforms for sitting and drinking tea under a natural canopy of grape vines.

One man, who identified himself only by his first name, Khamayun, said he had a wife and children in Mazar-e-Sharif, but he hadn't talked with them since the U.S. retaliation began.

A trained pilot, Khamayun said he learned how to fly fighter jets in the 1980s at Krasnodar, Russia, during his service in the Soviet Air Force. Now grounded, he said he looks forward to soon being able to fly across the border again to Mazar-e-Sharif.

``There are ways to get across the border,'' Khamayun said. ``When it opens again, we'll get there however we can, whether by air or by land.''

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Между двумя соседними республиками заключен договор о совместном использовании водно-энергетических ресурсов, согласно которому Киргизия поставляет Узбекистану поливную воду, взамен получая газ и электроэнергию.

В ходе переговоров в Ташкенте стороны должны определить объемы взаимопоставок.

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Courts in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, last week convicted the defendants with belonging to the illegal Islamic party Khizb-ut-Takhrir and handed down sentences of nine to 12 years, to be served in a high security prison.

But for the first time, in addition to the usual charges of undermining the constitution and membership of a forbidden organisation, they were also charged with connection to Bin Laden. Khizb-ut-Takhrir, which means Freedom party in Arabic, was founded in the 1950s by a Palestinian. The first units appeared in Uzbekistan in the late 1980s and it is believed to have about 10,700 active supporters in the country. It calls for an Islamic state in Uzbekistan based on Sharia law and the union of all Muslim countries into a single Caliphate.

The group's programme is utterly at odds with the secular and highly authoritarian regime in Uzbekistan, run largely by men who grew up under the old Soviet communist system. In March last year, the group's leader, Khafigullo Nasyrov, was given a 20 year jail sentence.

Reading out the verdict, the judge in Tashkent declared the nine defendants guilty of having connections with Bin Laden but did not present any evidence of such links.

As a result, both the nature of the defendants' connection to Bin Laden and how it was established remained a mystery for their relatives, as well as journalists and independent observers.

Following the September 11 attacks in the US, local human rights activists fear the law-enforcement and judicial authorities in Uzbekistan are trying to categorise all religious activists as terrorists and discredit their cause at home and abroad by linking them to the world's most notorious terrorist leader.

The chairman of the Independent Human Rights Organisation in Uzbekistan, IHROU, Mikhail Ardzinov, said charging members of Khizb-ut-Takhrir with connections to Bin Laden sets a dangerous new precedent.

During the last two years, Uzbekistan has been the target of serious criticism from several international human rights organisations and Western countries, particularly the US, for violations of human rights and the mass conviction of members of religious organisations.

This week campaigning organisation Human Rights Watch urged the US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to exercise caution in dealing with Uzbekistan, in spite of the fact that Tashkent is now a key ally in the US-led military campaign against the Taleban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Ardzinov said the police and judiciary in Uzbekistan aimed to establish a link between Khizb-ut-Takhrir and Bin Laden to promote the idea in the international community that the Uzbek government is battling against world terrorism. This would then justify both the severe sentences they impose on religious activists and their unlawful methods of investigation.

During the trial, Nurullo Majidov, the defendant presented as the leader of the group, declared he had no connections to, or contacts with the prime suspect in the US terrorist outrages. "We do not have connections to Osama bin Laden or any other terrorist organisations, as we pursue different methods of struggle," he said. "We are fighting for our ideas through peaceful means."

Majidov said Khizb-ut-Takhrir confined its work to agitation and propaganda.

During the trial, the defendants claimed repeatedly that the police used unlawful methods of investigation, including physical torture and psychological pressure. The defendants said this was why they confessed to the accusations.

The parents of the defendants insisted it was absurd to link their children to Bin Laden's network. The mother of one, Ravshan Pulatov, said, "There is no connection between my son and Osama bin Laden whatsoever. He is a simple fellow, as all other fellows who sit in the dock. This is simply absurd."

The Uzbek government has cracked down hard on domestic Islamist groups since a series of explosions rocked Tashkent in February 1999. Islamic extremists were blamed for the blast which killed at least 16 people. Before the explosions there were only a few dozen members of Khizb-ut-Takhrir in detention, but their number increased to more than 7,000 by the middle of this year, human rights group say.

The nervousness of the authorities towards religious groups has been heightened by their ongoing war, in the southern border region, with an Islamic insurgency movement, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, IMU, which is incontrovertibly linked to the Taleban and was held responsible for the bomb attacks in Tashkent. The IMU leaders, Takhir Yuldash and Juma Namangani, are close confidantes of Bin Laden and maintain a considerable presence in his Afghan training camps.

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SKR borders on Uzbekistan. Uzbek law-enforcement agencies think the criminals are hiding in Kazakhstan and, therefore, they sent to SKR police a message of special importance to inform them of the stolen paintings.

The press service said that Ayvazovskiy's "Sunsets in the Steppe", Tropinin's "Princess Obolenskaya", Bryulov's "A Turkish Woman", Kramskoy's "A Girl with a Red Bow" and Surikov's sketch for the painting "Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy" [all paintings from Tashkent Arts Museum's Russian collection] had been stolen.

The press service said that the malefactors managed to turn off the alarm system in the museum and got into the building by breaking a window on the first floor.

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В нем, в частности, говорится, что правительства двух государств "признают международный терроризм в качестве серьезной угрозы миру, а также глобальной и региональной стабильности". "В связи с этим, - говорится в заявлении, - стороны подписали 7 октября Соглашение, которое создает прочную основу для двустороннего сотрудничества в борьбе против терроризма. Наши страны будут тесно работать для создания более безопасного будущего не только для народов Центральной Азии, но и для людей во всем мире". В заявлении отмечается, что "наша общая борьба направлена против терроризма, а не против афганского народа и мы будем сотрудничать в области оказания гуманитарной помощи народу Афганистана. Мы также привержены уничтожению международного терроризма и его инфраструктуры".

В документе отмечается, что для этих целей Узбекистан согласился предоставить свое воздушное пространство и необходимую военную и гражданскую инфраструктуру одного из своих аэродромов, который будет использоваться, в первую очередь, в гуманитарных целях.

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Giant C-17 US military transports fly in and out of the air base, the biggest in Uzbekistan, offloading crates and containers. US servicemen are digging latrines and building a mess hall. A tent city has mushroomed at the base, where local pilots say some 1,500 US personnel are now stationed.

The entire western part of the airfield, effectively 70 per cent of the base, has been allotted to the Americans, who have installed their own checkpoint to prevent unauthorised entry. Uzbek pilots and support staff are forbidden to cross over to the US-controlled area. "Can't even get to my own workplace," grumbled Obijon, an Uzbek pilot.

Uzbekistan has agreed to let the US use the airfield on the sprawling plains of the Kashkadaria region, 400 km southwest of Tashkent and 50 km from the Uzbek-Afghan border, for humanitarian, reconnaissance and rescue operations in Afghanistan.

The arrival of the 1,500 US personnel has turned the life of Khanabad and the surrounding farming community upside down.

New Uzbek police and national security service checkpoints were thrown up around Khanabad on October 7, right after the first US planes and personnel arrived. Police combed the community for illegal migrants and foreigners.

Residents were told to carry their IDs at all times outside their homes. They have to produce the documents at the checkpoints and bus drivers will not let people on board without them.

In the last few days, five or six US C-17s have flown in from a US airbase in Turkey, unloading containers, boxes and crates before flying off again. Local pilots say there are also at least six tandem-rotor cargo helicopters and one helicopter gunship at Khanabad. They say that apart from technical personnel, regular US soldiers, possibly from the 10th Mountain Division, are also there.

Local pilots say that, judging by the scope of construction work going on, the Americans are here to stay. They believe the US may have plans to maintain its presence at Khanabad for about five years.

Local military servicemen are unhappy about the American deployments. The stark contrast between the conspicuous affluence of the foreign servicemen and their local counterparts offends. An Uzbek air force officer earns just 30 US dollars a month (at black market rates). "It's like the army of the 22nd century is here," said Obijon enviously.

He complained that the American soldiers seem so carefree and uninhibited. They fly Jolly Roger pirate flags from their motorbikes and cars.

In the mornings, they occasionally go jogging with their gas masks, prompting fears of a chemical attack among local servicemen who have no training in the relevant avoidance procedures.

The arrival of the US personnel and their mission has aroused mixed feelings amongst local people.

"This measure is much needed and very well timed. We must support our government's decision. It's the only way we can defeat international terrorism," Asiljon, a civil servant, said.

But other locals fear the deployment of American forces in the local airfield will make them a prime target should the Taleban attack.

The Kabul regime has reportedly threatened Uzbekistan with a jihad (holy war) if any American strikes are launched from its territory.

"I've got basic supplies and documents ready, so I can leave within a matter of seconds if the Taleban hit. I've sent my children away to stay with relatives in the Fergana valley," said Khalida, a Khanabad resident.

Temirjon, a local truck driver, echoed her fears. "The Afghans are going to get us when the Americans are out of here," he said.

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The two countries also agreed on ``the need to consult on an urgent basis about appropriate steps to address the situation in the event of a direct threat to the security or territorial integrity of the Republic of Uzbekistan,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher added.

The statement, following an agreement signed Oct. 7, appeared to go further than a deal announced during a visit by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Oct. 5 for the air base only to be used for humanitarian purposes and rescue operations.

``We ... commit ourselves to eliminate international terrorism and its infrastructure,'' Boucher said, a reference to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network under U.S. attack since Sunday in neighboring Afghanistan.

``For these purposes, the Republic of Uzbekistan has agreed to provide the use of its air space and necessary military and civilian infrastructure of one of its airports, which would be used in the first instance for humanitarian purposes,'' Boucher added.

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The humanitarian cargo is intended for Afghan women and children. This is the first flight of its kind carried out in the week since Uzbekistan made its airspace available for the USA for humanitarian purposes.

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