Uzbekistan grants US Afghan supply route

The move addresses a major concern for U.S. President Barack Obama, whose plans for a surge in operations in Afghanistan took a blow when Kyrgyzstan announced the closure of a U.S. airbase on its territory earlier this month.

"Uzbekistan has agreed to allow non-military, I underline, non-military cargo to be transited through Uzbek territory to Afghanistan, in accordance with existing Uzbek legislation," Karimov told reporters.

"Cargo will certainly come to Termez from every direction, to the bridge over the Amu Darya," he said, referring to the city of Termez on the Uzbek side of the Amu Darya river crossing into Afghanistan.

The decision by Kyrgyzstan to close the U.S. airbase at Manas, signed into law last week by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity in strategically vital Central Asia.

General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command, travelled to Uzbekistan last week in a visit widely seen as linked to Washington’s hopes for increasing transit through the ex-Soviet region to Afghanistan.

U.S. officials have for several months been working on developing transit routes through Russia and ex-Soviet Central Asia to supplement a route through Pakistan.

These negotiations have centered on supplies such as building materials, rather than the people transit and mid-air refueling services provided by the Kyrgyz base, according to U.S. officials.

Uzbekistan now says it plans to participate in the development of transport infrastructure between the Uzbek city of Termez and the northern Afghan city of Mazar-I-Sharif.

Karimov, speaking at a press conference with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, described the significance of the agreement as "very great."

Tashkent closed a U.S. airbase that helped support operations in Afghanistan in 2005, following EU and U.S. criticism over the Uzbek governments handling of an armed uprising in the city of Andijan.

Relations between Washington and Tashkent have warmed again recently, and individuals linked to NATO operations in Afghanistan have used the country as a stop-over point, according to officials.

The enigmatic Berdymukhamedov, who rules over one of the worlds most reclusive states, also signaled his country’s willingness to provide some transit rights to the United States.

"We have never been, nor will we ever be against the transit of humanitarian cargo through our air corridor," he told reporters.

Kyrgyzstan’s shock announcement of the base closure came after Russia offered more than two billion dollars in aid to the struggling Kyrgyz economy.
Bishkek has insisted that Moscow did not set the closure as a condition.

Since the announcement by Bishkek, both Russia and Tajikistan have offered to allow the transit of non-lethal supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The Manas base, operated by about 1,000 troops, including small French and Spanish contingents, was set up to support coalition forces fighting to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The announcement of the closure of the base came just as Obama had authorized an increase of 17,000 troops to add to the 36,000-strong US force in Afghanistan.