U.S. planes in Uzbekistan

TASHKENT, SEPT. 22. U.S. military aircraft have landed at a military airport in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, close to Afghanistan, an Uzbek military official requesting anonymity told AFP today.

The source said the planes, which carried reconnaissance equipment, were at the military airport of Tuzel, about 15 km from Tashkent.

The official did not give any further details on the number of aircraft or when they had arrived.

Tajikistan's assurance

A report from Dushanbe, quoting the Tajik President, Mr. Emomali Rakhmonov, today said his country was "ready to cooperate" with a U.S.-led fight against terrorism, but did not say whether it would directly take part in any U.S. military strikes against neighbouring Afghanistan.

Tajikistan "is ready to cooperate with the international community, including the American Government, in the struggle against terrorism and international extremism," Mr. Rakhmonov said at the opening of the country's Democratic Party congress.

He did not specify exactly how Tajikistan would cooperate, as Washington considers waging war against the nation suspected of harbouring Osama bin Laden, prime suspect behind the September 11 U.S. terrorist attacks.

On Thursday, Tajikistan said it would deny the U.S. access to its military bases in case of U.S. military action against Afghanistan.

"We have never studied the possibility of offering Tajik territory in view of U.S. strikes," a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, who asked not to be named, said.

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