Russian border guards chief forecasts Afghan refugees rush to Central Asia
( 2001-09-28 10:57 ) (7 )

Some 120,000 refugees are concentrated on Afghanistan's northern border and US airstrikes may push them across the border to poor, ill-equipped ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia, Russia's border guard chief said on Thursday.

The potential refugee rush toward the already volatile region on Russia's southern flank is a key reason why Russians have been cautious in their support of the US-led anti-terrorism campaign.

The refugees on the Afghan border had fled earlier fighting between the ruling Taliban and the opposition alliance. Border guard chief Col. Gen. Konstantin Totsky said they may be joined by new waves of refugees after US strikes, and could cross into neighboring Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Those three nations have attracted global attention because they border Afghanistan and have Soviet-built air bases that make them a convenient foothold for launching strikes on the Taliban, which shelters the top suspect in September 11 terror attacks on the United States, Osama bin Laden.

Russia's 25,000-strong border force in Tajikistan has already been put on alert, and reinforcements are ready to fly to the area within 24 hours, Totsky said on Russian television.

But Totsky said border officials are more concerned about Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, because they touch Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan.

Supported by Russia, the Central Asian countries have pledged to cooperate with the United States.

"We are interested in destroying terrorist havens in our region, and we think it's natural to help the United States," Uzbek President Islam Karimov said late on Wednesday. "Uzbekistan is ready to consider providing its air space for security purposes, and primarily for humanitarian cargoes, if (Washington) asks."

For several days there have been unconfirmed reports that US military transport planes have already landed in Uzbekistan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to support the US-led action through air corridors for humanitarian operations but stopped short of a military commitment.

Russia's Finance Ministry is coordinating with the US Treasury Department in efforts to cut off financing to terrorist groups, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kudrin said Russian audit agencies would probe suspected terrorist groups and promised to exchange information with the United States.

A nationwide poll released on Thursday of 1,500 conducted last weekend by Russia's independent Public Opinion Foundation showed that 58 percent of respondents said that Russia must maintain neutrality and not get involved in the US actions.

Putin and other Russian officials say they've long warned the West about the threat of terrorism from Afghanistan. Interfax said on Thursday that the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a detailed report on bin Laden's bases in Afghanistan to the UN Security Council committee on sanctions several months ago.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Thursday that US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, during a meeting in Brussels, passed on evidence of Osama bin Laden's role in the September 11 attacks. He did not elaborate.