Команда Салькова пропустила четыре мяча во втором тайме от команды, которой вколотила пять безответных мячей в Ташкенте. Нужно также отметить, что по ходу матча, сначала Акопянц, а затем Ширшов, не смогли переиграть вратаря Омана, выйдя с ним один на один.

Отоборочный цикл чемпионата мира для сборной Узбекистана завершен, несмотря на оставшийся последний матч с китайцами. Сборная Салькова не извлекла никаких уроков из поражения от ОАЭ в Ташкенте и упущенной победы со сборной Катара на выезде.

Сейчас трудно делать какие-то спешные выводы относительно того, кто виноват: игроки, тренер или определенные условия, но стимул у сборной был. В случае выхода сборной в финальную часть чемпионата мира, команда получила бы три миллиона долларов премиальных.

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В 03:25 по местному времени в районе заставы Айвадж и еще одной заставы - Хошма снова были зафиксированы шумы двигателей самолетов на удалении до 4 км от линии государственной границы.

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Турнир девяти сборных проходит по круговой системе. В составе каждой команды шесть человек - четыре основных игрока и два запасных.

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Как передает корреспондент РИА "Новости", об этом, отвечая на вопросы журналистов, он заявил в пятницу на брифинге в Минобороны США.

Вместе с тем министр отметил, что узбекским властям "приходится иметь дело с рядом террористических организаций как внутренних, так и действующих через границу". Рамсфелд указал, что это было предметом обсуждения в ходе его встречи с президентом Узбекистана Исламом Каримовым на прошлой неделе.

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The joint statement itself underscores that the United States and Uzbekistan have established a "qualitatively new relationship" that involved a long-term commitment by each side.

"We recognize the need to work closely together in the campaign against terrorism," the statement said. "This includes 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."

Nearly 1,000 American troops from the Army's 10th Mountain Division have already poured into an Uzbek airfield near the border with Afghanistan. The troops will provide security for American teams that will carry out search and rescue missions.

The announcement, however, was the first to articulate the terms for using the base, once a staging ground for Soviet troops occupying Afghanistan. And it also suggests that the United States military will be able to make broader use of Uzbek territory.

The statement said that the Uzbek base where American forces are deployed would be used "in the first instance for humanitarian purposes." It did not outline what military activities would be allowed but significantly left open the possibility of offensive operations.

Senior Pentagon officials have indicated that the war plan calls for basing helicopter-borne special operations forces there and that their tasks would go beyond searching for downed pilots.

The agreement was announced as the United States eased its attacks briefly during the Muslim holy day on Friday, and the Pentagon said that anti-Taliban resistance had made important advances on the ground in western Afghanistan, taking a strategically important town.

American warplanes resumed attacks on Afghanistan early this morning and eight powerful explosions were heard in the capital of Kabul.

At least one bomb dropped on the already heavily damaged airport there, witnesses said. "I saw a fireball, debris flying up into the sky and the initial big fire, then dimming," a witness said.

Bush administration officials said the new assurances to Uzbekistan disclosed Friday stopped short of the sort of security guarantee the United States provides to NATO nations, which pledge to defend one another militarily. Even so, the commitment to defend a former Soviet republic signaled another major shift in the post-cold war landscape of the former Soviet Union and an expansion of American commitments into Central Asia.

"We are signaling that we are going to see this through, that we are not going to love them and leave them," a senior administration official said. "But it is not the kind of blood oath that we take in NATO."

The joint statement was hammered out following a visit to Uzbekistan by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Mr. Rumsfeld brought a letter from President Bush underscoring Washington's interest in a new relationship.

During Mr. Rumsfeld's visit, Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, publicly stated that commando units could not be stationed on Uzbek soil and that offensive operations could not be conducted from its territory. But during the visit, Mr. Karimov left open the possibility that the American presence in Uzbekistan might grow if a generous package of assistance and security guarantees was provided by Washington. American officials implied that access might now be improved.

"It takes it up another notch," one senior Bush administration official said, without elaborating.

The agreement may also prevent misunderstandings. It was announced a day after the government of Uzbekistan balked at allowing two C-17 cargo planes to cross its airspace on their way to deliver packets of food to refugees inside Afghanistan. Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, attributed the break in food drops to diplomatic confusion about overflights, but other officials said the problem was complicated when the Uzbeks raised concerns about fighter jets escorting the C-17's.

Four of those flights left to drop food over Afghanistan on Friday. In Afghanistan, American warplanes eased their attack, refraining from planned strikes on the Muslim holy day. For the first time since the American-led strikes began on Sunday, there were no raids by the Air Force's heavy bombers B-1's and B-52's from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and B-2's from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

American attacks resumed early this morning near Kabul. American officials said they were looking for moving targets of opportunity that included Taliban leaders as well as Osama bin Laden and members of his Al Qaeda network.

The air strikes began on Sunday with a barrage of 50 cruise missiles and 40 bombers and fighters striking 31 targets. Since then the number of aircraft and targets has dropped to only a few each day, including only seven on Thursday before the easing of the strikes. Those included six Taliban military garrisons and a terrorist camp associated with Al Qaeda.

Mr. Rumsfeld offered a somewhat subdued assessment of the campaign so far, saying the strikes had "disrupted their communications somewhat" and damaged "but certainly not eliminated their air-defense capabilities." As a result, a senior military officer said, the Pentagon scrubbed planned flights of Commando Solo, the Air Force's airborne radio station.

Afghan factions opposed to the Taliban, however, have been taking advantage of the airstrikes to make progress to the west of Kabul.

A senior Pentagon official said that the anti-Taliban commanders affiliated with the Northern Alliance appear to have taken the town of Chaghcharan, a provincial capital. The capture unites the forces of two Northern Alliance field commanders, Ismael Kahn and Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, and puts them in a position to move east toward Kabul. It also cuts a key Taliban supply line between Kabul and Herat in the west and between the capital and Mazar-i- Sharif to the north.

The Pentagon official also attached high credibility to reports that 1,200 Taliban fighters and 40 commanders defected at Kondoz, a northern Afghanistan town closed to Northern Alliance positions.

But directly to the north of Kabul the Taliban are reinforcing and digging in. Intense fighting was reported near Mazar-i-Sharif today.

The United States has avoided airstrikes on the Taliban front line north of Kabul, a move that is intended to address Pakistan's concerns that the Northern Alliance might advance into Kabul and take control if the Taliban quickly collapse. The Northern Alliance is dominated by ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks. Pakistan has been close to the Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group in Pakistan from which Taliban leaders emerged.

Mr. Rumsfeld said today that the United States supported any groups opposed to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but was not directly coordinating its air and missile strikes with the opposition forces.

"At that point where we are not attacking military targets in close proximity to those troops, then it's for those troops to make judgments as to whether or not they intend to take advantage of the work that's been done for them," he said, referring to the resistance forces.

Mr. Rumsfeld also said that the explicit aim of the strikes was to kill leaders of the Taliban government and Al Qaeda. He did not cite specific instances in which leaders were killed, but he added, "we've been working on that."

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[Question] The world media is reporting the current military operations in Afghanistan differently. How would you assess the present situation in general?

[Gen. Dostum] "It is known to all that the US and British air forces have been carrying out air strikes against the bases of international terrorists and the Taleban. As a result of these attacks all airfields under their control have been paralysed, in particular in the towns of Kandahar, Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, Shindand [Farah Province, in west], Konduz, Jowzjan and Jalalabad, as well as the Taleban radars."

[Question] Certain reports say that certain subunits of the Taleban forces have joined the Northern Alliance, to what extent is such information true?

[Gen. Dostum] "Generally speaking, the Taleban have lost courage, there is panic among them. Local field commanders are establishing contacts with us. For example, a number of the Taleban field commanders from Sar-e Pol Province [northern Afghanistan] with 4,000 fighters armed with assault rifles and machine guns have joined us and expressed their readiness to protect the interests of the Islamic State of Afghanistan. They are mainly from Sozma Qala, Laghman, Sar-e Pol and Dar-e Bala districts. They have held meetings and voiced their support of the Northern Alliance's forces.

"A detachment of the Taleban under the command of Amir Esmael Khan was wiped out in Ghowr Province. His fighters are 8 km from a place called Badghiz. The Taleban in Fariab [in northeast] also want to join us.

In two days' time I will inform you of some more good news: 5,000 fighters of the Taleban are going to join us. I will tell you the names of their commanders later. Now they are establishing contacts with us. Should this happen, the Taleban would lose control over strategically important roads to Herat and Badghis.

"The Taleban are in a difficult situation. Our forces are not far from the town of Samangan [also known as Aybak, capital of Samangan Province in north]. At present our troops consist of 5,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. Our headquarters is stationed 100 km and our troops are 40-50 km from Mazar-e Sharif.

"We are making preparations for a fierce offensive. The command of the troops in Mazar-e Sharif is also trying to establish contacts with us. In the near future a big force will advance against the Taleban. In general we have the advantage. Just now we have received reports that the Taleban [commanders] Mola Beradar and Mola Fazel are hiding with their fighters somewhere next to us, in Takhar."

Meanwhile the Taleban has banned the use of the English language in the areas they control. Above all this concerns the UN mission in Afghanistan. From now on all telephone conversations will be monitored. Anyone heard speaking English would be strictly punished, the Taleban have announced.

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Today, after the bloody events of 11 September in the USA and the start of an anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan, the world has, undoubtedly, changed. Many people's philosophy of life changed. Moreover, we now understand "human life", its value and security in their broader meaning, putting aside all other insignificant problems of the present time. But as is known, not everybody thinks so. First of all, those who have innocent people's blood on their hands, for whom the word "killing" has become as ordinary as eating and drinking do not think so.

A great German poet Goethe in his work Faust has a character Mephistopheles to whom Faust sells his soul. But those terrorists who carried out explosions in Tashkent, Kenya and Tanzania and finally in New York and Washington sold everything that every sensible person has - the motherland, their people, lullabies of their mothers, forests and fields, the purling of a mountain river and birds singing at dawn - for a handful of coins and leftovers from other people's table. But the most terrible thing is going against the wishes of one's people, one's mother and wife, father and brothers, and in the end, to feel on one's own hides their hatred and wrath and then vanish for good. This is the way we should speak about terrorists who with a sheepish grin on their face and with their thirst to kill are faced today with the power of justice, retribution and the truth.

This is all about militants of the so-called Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who after the very first air strikes, hid in their holes like rats, and are ready to serve anyone who would help them survive. But it is impossible to hide from people's wrath. At a time when the people of Uzbekistan expressed their support for the US anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan, at a time when they are building a bright future for their Motherland, being glad of success and smiles of their children, these murderers and traitors are fighting alongside the Taleban and are trying to catch us off guard and bite us with their toothless mouths, not understanding that the Uzbek people are united and firm in their determination to root out terrorism.

The first steps in this direction have already been taken. The "foster sons" of Jumaboy Khojiyev (Namangoniy) were destroyed in Surkhandarya Region [in southern Uzbekistan] last year, and the US State Department included the so-called Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the list of world terrorist organizations, and finally, the UN leadership has taken a similar step, making public a new list of people, organizations and companies against whom sanctions will be imposed like the ones approved against the Taleban regime. This draws a line under the ultimate condemnation of these cutthroats: they should be flushed out. Among those included in the list along with various other groups is the so-called Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Undoubtedly, a new and crucial phase of elimination of that evil has started because it does not recognize borders, nationalities or religions. And here, as our head of state repeated many times, "we can confront international terrorism and extremism only if a fight is organized not only against their manifestations but first of all against those international centres which, having great capabilities, organize, and guide terrorists and supply them with arms and funds". Following the Tashkent explosions in February of 1999 those murderers tried to hide in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taleban with the hope that they would make sorties to our sacred Motherland from time to time.

It should be noted that in autumn of 2000 the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan sentenced Jumaboy Khojiyev and Tohir Yoldoshev to death. But the situation has now totally changed. Now the Taleban, who offered refuge and food to the lackeys of Khojiyev and Yoldoshev, are themselves looking for a sanctuary now, trying to escape from the fury and wrath of not only the Uzbek people but also of the entire world community. As regards the UN's most up-to-date list of terrorists, it is not the most important thing. The fact that the entire world today considers these proteges of international terrorists as common enemies against whom it should fight until they are destroyed completely shows that there is full and global awareness of this threat, and there is also an understanding that things cannot be changed back to the way they were before.

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The following is the text of the report carried by Russian newspaper Obshchaya Gazeta on 11 October. Subheadings have been inserted editorially.

Who could pull Russia into the bloodshed?

By declaring war on Uzbekistan, the Taleban did more than issue a blatant challenge to this Central Asian country, which had allowed the use of its airfields as American air bases. Incapable of any perceptible resistance of the powerful bomb and missile strikes against their bases and military installations, the Afghan religious radicals decided to attack what they perceived as the weakest and most accessible link of the international antiterrorist coalition. Will they be able, however, to win any appreciable victories in a direct confrontation with the regular army of the former Soviet republic, and exactly what do they expect to accomplish?

According to the combined reports of the intelligence agencies of several states, the military forces of the Taleban movement had 80,000-85,000 soldiers before the start of Operation "Enduring Freedom." The Taleban themselves now claim they have about twice that number. These forces were divided into four army corps. They had 160 Soviet-made tanks, 20-25 fighter planes, and 12 launchers for the obsolete operational-tactical Scud missiles, with a range of up to 120 kilometres in the standard setup.

Before the start of the "retaliatory operation", a third of the Taleban ground forces and up to half of their combat equipment were engaged in battles with units of the Northern Alliance. The start of the bombing raids, however, forced the Taleban to move most of their personnel as close as possible to the northerners' positions in an attempt to use their adversary, now acting as America's ally, as a form of guaranteed cover - a zone not subject to attack from the air. The Taleban may have had the same plans for the region bordering on Uzbekistan when they declared war on that country and moved 8,000 soldiers to the region on that pretext. Would they really dare, however, to launch direct and full-scale combat operations against the neighbouring country? No one knows.

Uzbek army Central Asia's best-equipped army

Today the armed forces of Uzbekistan are the biggest and best-equipped army in all of the Central Asian republics, with the personnel strength of around 80,000. Uzbekistan has two army corps, two antiaircraft missile brigades, one operational-tactical missile brigade, four air regiments, and a National Guard regiment. These units and combined units are armed with 280 tanks, 700 armoured combat vehicles, 140 planes, 20 attack helicopters, and more than a thousand mortars and multiple rocket launchers. The operational-tactical brigade has six fairly modern Tochka systems, distinguished by exceptionally high accuracy.

What conclusions can we draw from a comparison of the combat strength of the Taleban units and the army of the Republic of Uzbekistan?

Whatever the warring religious radicals might be hoping to accomplish, they cannot concentrate most of their forces near the border of the neighbouring country because they will still have to fight the approaching Northern Alliance and keep sizable contingents in virtually every sector along the perimeter of their own borders in the expectation of invading ground forces from virtually any direction. They will have even bigger problems with combat equipment. After two days of missile and bombing raids, the Americans announced that they had succeeded in destroying almost all of the Taleban aircraft and ground-based air-defence systems.

The Uzbek army, on the other hand, is able to concentrate much of its strength in the south. There are no serious threats to the republic from any other direction at this time. Furthermore, in view of the fact that Russia and Uzbekistan signed a protocol on military and military-technical cooperation in December 1999, in line with which they are working on 28 different projects for the modernization and renewal of Tashkent's arms, there is no need to worry about their present state.

It appears, therefore, that Uzbek officials were not exaggerating when they recently said they saw no serious military threat to their country at this time. An emergency conference was convened, however, at the republic's Defence Ministry right after the Taleban declaration of war, and the troops subsequently received instructions from President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Islam Karimov regarding the need to put all units on heightened alert. This suggests that there is something to fear, but what could it be?

Russia will defend Uzbekistan in line with regional treaty

The vice-president of the academy of geopolitical affairs, Leonid Ivashov, who recently headed the Russian Defence Ministry's main directorate for international military cooperation, described the present situation on the border between the two Central Asian countries. Any armed confrontation there, or even the very possibility of a confrontation in the near future, is certain to send the Afghan civilian population streaming across the Uzbek border. The main danger in this course of events is the possibility that some Afghan soldiers might come across in the crowd of refugees.

They would have the potential to undermine the internal situation in Uzbekistan. That could be followed by an armed struggle within the country - even without any front on the border. In this event, even the American assurances of help for any state supporting the antiterrorist operation would be meaningless. The international mechanisms of assistance recorded in official documents would then take precedence over vague promises.

"Although Uzbekistan withdrew from the CIS Treaty on Collective Security a few years ago, Russia is tied to Uzbekistan by a bilateral treaty of the same format," explained Leonid Ivashov, who personally drafted that international document. "We also have military commitments to Uzbekistan stemming from the Shanghai Forum."

A threat to the constitutional order, form of government, and territorial integrity of an Asian ally could involve Russia directly in an armed struggle with the Taleban. Not within Afghanistan at first, of course. But what about later? We probably would have to go "across the river" again.

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