Taliban say deploy 8,000 troops on Uzbek border
( 2001-10-07 16:28 ) (7 )

The ruling Taliban said on Sunday they were deploying thousands more fighters along Afghanistan's northern border with Uzbekistan and they were also shoring up defences near the capital, Kabul.

As many as 10,000 fighters had been sent to reinforce the border and other sectors after a spy plane circling high above the capital, Kabul, drew anti-aircraft fire from Taliban defenders on Saturday, Taliban Education Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told Reuters.

The reinforcements along the Uzbekistan border were needed after reports the United States was sending troops to be based in the Central Asian republic, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.

"We have deployed our forces there at all important places. This is the question of our self respect and we will never bow before the Americans and will fight to the last," AIP quoted a Taliban official as saying. The official said 8,000 fighters had been sent.

Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov on Friday told visiting US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld he would make an air base available for use by US cargo planes, helicopters and troops, but only for humanitarian and rescue operations.

The Taliban on Saturday threatened to attack Uzbekistan if it allowed US forces to launch strikes on Afghanistan from its territory.

Some 1,000 US soldiers have been sent to Uzbekistan in an unprecedented deployment of American forces in the former Soviet republic.

It was from a bridgehead in Uzbekistan that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on Christmas Day 1979.

Fears of US strikes intensified in Kabul after US President George W. Bush told the Taliban on Saturday that time was running out for the radical Taliban to hand over the world's most wanted man, Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden.

Muttaqi warned the Uzbek government not to jeopardise its national interests for the sake of America.

"We are saying to all our neighbouring countries and Muslims that they should follow the path of Islam and not pursue the American wishes," Muttaqi said.

"They all, including Uzbekistan, should not endanger their national interests because of Bush's wishes," he said.

RING OF DEFENCES

AIP, quoting unidentified sources, also said the Taliban had prepared a new ring of defensive positions some 60 km (40 miles) north of Kabul where around 2,000 fresh fighters had been moved toward the disused former Soviet airbase at Bagram.

However, Muttaqi issued another appeal for restraint, saying force could never destroy ideology.

"Once again we want them to use patience and a positive policy and review the policy of attack," he told reporters.

"The world's affairs are not solved through force, and destroying countries does not mean that one can annihilate their people's ideology or their feelings," he said.

Muttaqi decried the United States for not accepting Taliban proposals to avert a crisis, including an offer to free eight detained foreign aid workers in return for an end to Washington threats against Afghanistan.

"America is talking with impetuosity and looks down on other nations and this is a wrong policy," he said.