US General Visits Tajikistan to Strengthen Ties

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2001 - AAR - General Tommy Franks, head of the United States Central Command spent a few hours in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan on Wednesday and discussed regional security and military issues with Tajikistani leaders.

US and Afghan sources told Azadi Afghan Radio that the American Army general will convey a message from the Bush Adminisration that the US considers Tajikistan a strategically significant country and hopes to develop military and security ties with Dushanbe.

Afghanistan and the extremist threat posed by the Taliban and their foreign backers, especially by Pakistani militants and and Ussama Bin Laden fighters allied with the Taliban, toped an agenda that also covered border security, drug trafficking and regional relations.

Russia, which still yields influence in the former Soviet republic, provides the bulk of Tajikistan's border security force with Afghanistan and, experts say, may welcome US overtures in the common fight against terrorism and extremism in Central Asia. The US has already established small-scale security and military ties with Uzbekistan.

Coincidentally, several countries and important international organizations pledged Wednesday a total of $430 million in aid for Dushanbe to reduce poverty and achieve economic stability.