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Tajikistan says no to attacks of Afghanistan from its territory
( 2001-09-17 10:10 ) (7 )

The leadership of Tajikistan on Sunday ruled out the possibility of launching any Western-led reprisal attacks against Afghanistan from its territory.

"Reports in some mass media on the use of the Tajik territory by a third country to inflict strikes on military camps of the Taliban and international terrorists in Afghanistan are groundless," Igor Sattarov, chief of the foreign ministry's press section, told reporters.

US officials have identified suspected Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden as suspect No 1 in Tuesday's terrorist strikes against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have given bin Laden sanctuary.

Earlier this week, Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov indicated his government might consider a US request to provide air corridors for strikes on neighboring Afghanistan, but only with approval from Russia and the international community.

Russia has made it clear that it would not approve a Western-led campaign from what Moscow considers its own backyard.

Tajikistan, along with the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, are located on Afghanistan's northern border. It is one of the few countries from which a military offensive could be launched.

Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were major staging areas for Soviet troops and aircraft during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Since Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are also dependent on Russia for economic ties, it was unlikely they would agree to military operations from their territories without Moscow's approval.

Makhmut Gareyev, who served as the chief Soviet military adviser to Afghanistan's pro-Moscow government in the 1980s, warned on Sunday that targeting bin Laden and facing down the Taliban could prove extremely difficult.

"The airstrikes will bring no result. Bin Laden is not alone, he is a part of huge international network of terrorist centers. So terrorist organizations will survive any strikes even if bin Laden were to be wiped out. The problem will remain," he said.

In Afghanistan, the opposition alliance is made up of ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and other minorities in Afghanistan and controls about 10 percent of the country in the northeast along the border with the former Soviet Union.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on Sunday ordered Russian troops stationed in Tajikistan on a state of increased readiness, the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies reported.

Tajikistan is still struggling to recover from a five-year civil war between mostly Islamic opposition forces and the hard-line secular government, and is heavily dependent on Russia for military and political support.

Russia has deployed about 25,000 border guards and other troops in Tajikistan to help stem the flow of drugs and militants coming across the border from Afghanistan.