Politics
Jun 9 2005 6:45PMEvents in Uzbekistan organized by Afghanistan - Ivanov
BRUSSELS. June 9 (Interfax) - Russia has credible information that
the recent disturbances in the Uzbek town of Andizhan were organized
from Afghan territory, said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov.
"Our information is quite reliable: everything that happened in
Andizhan was inspired from Afghan territory," Ivanov said at a session
of the Russian-NATO Council on Thursday.
"A group of armed militants from Islamic organizations, including
[Taliban members], had been planning a raid on Uzbekistan for a long
time. So the questions the investigation has to answer are who organized
the riots, how, and who assisted them," Ivanov said.
"Ultimately, we are talking about stopping the threat of
international terrorism in this strategically important region," he
said.
Ivanov noted that terrorist training continues in Afghanistan. "As
we know, terrorists are being purposefully trained in Afghanistan for
export," Ivanov said, adding that "the recent events in Uzbekistan are a
clear confirmation of this."
"In general, the situation in Afghanistan is still far from what we
could call stable," Ivanov said.
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