Tajik president confirms U.S. to use 3 Tajik bases

Asian Political News, Nov 12, 2001

DUSHANBE, Nov. 7 Kyodo

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov confirmed on Wednesday that Tajikistan would allow the United States to use three military bases for its military campaign against Afghanistan.

Tajikistan is the second Central Asian republic agreeing to provide military bases for the U.S., following the lead of Uzbekistan.

Rakhmonov told reporters that he gave the consent to the U.S. request, made by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during a meeting on Saturday.

Tajik officials earlier said the Tajik government had agreed in principle to the U.S. request.

On Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said a U.S. military team was in Tajikistan to assess the condition of the three bases, including the former Soviet air base Kulyab, located 96 kilometers from the Afghan border.

The other two Tajik bases the U.S. wants to use are Kurgan-Tyube in the south and Khujand in the north.

A senior Tajik defense official said the U.S. has been making preparations at the Kulyab base for sending U.S. special forces to Afghanistan.

U.S. forces are also likely to use the Kulyab base to deliver military supplies to the opposition Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban in northern Afghanistan.

According to Russia's Interfax news agency, Rakhmonov also said Tajikistan is willing to make Tajik hospitals available for the treatment of wounded U.S. soldiers and rebel troops from Afghanistan's Northern Alliance fighting the ruling Taliban.