Uzbekistan: Cooperation May Increase Stability, Security

Uzbekistan has cleared the way for U.S. planes to use its airspace and several of its strategically located airfields in the expected U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is headed to Uzbekistan to discuss the arrangements. This week, Uzbekistan's president officially offered his country's airspace and three air bases to the United States for use in any attacks on suspected terrorist bases inside neighboring Afghanistan. Uzbekistan shares a 137-kilometer-long border with Afghanistan, making the former Soviet republic's support a strategic asset to U.S. warplanes in planning an attack. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is headed to Uzbekistan to discuss this possibility. The international media are just discovering this heretofore little-known Central Asian nation, but U.S. defense officials are already well-acquainted with Uzbekistan, with which it has had cooperative military exercises in the past. For the U.S., the benefit of the new partnership is clear: The U.S. would value a clear corridor through Uzbekistan's airspace and access to its bases. For Uzbekistan, the rewards of cooperation are less clear.