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| Central Asia |
| Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan debrief... |
| 2002-04-27 |
| A Central Asian Islamic extremist group with ties to the al-Qaida terror network has suffered heavy losses in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, defense officials said Friday. Members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fought and died alongside Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan, the officials said, briefing reporters about developments in Central Asia. Ummm... Yeah. We noticed that. The movement wants to set up an Islamic state based in the Fergana Valley, a relatively lush region amid the Central Asian deserts. About 8 million people live in the valley, which runs through the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and was rocked by riots and fighting among warlords as the Soviet Union fell apart a decade ago. Many fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan trained in al-Qaida's Afghanistan camps. U.S. intelligence officials say others were trained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The group had little interest in al-Qaida's brand of international terrorism, however, preferring to direct its efforts against the authoritarian governments of Uzbekistan and its neighbors. And to strut around like conquering heroes in and beat up women in Afghanistan. Don't forget that part. The United States has cast its lot with many of those ex-Soviet countries and has built bases in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited U.S. troops Friday in Kyrgyzstan as a part a four-nation Central Asian tour. That's because they're working on becoming something other than dust-covered Islamic paradises. Many fled Afghanistan with the fall of the Taliban and are thought to be hiding in the remote valleys of Tajikistan, to the north, the officials said. The Russers would probably be willing to help the Tadjiks root them out and kill them. Its militants were thought to number in the thousands. Whether the survivors will regroup in the spring is unknown, officials said. Probably depends on how many of them are left. If their troop strength is way down, they'll probably spend a year or two or three in rebuilding. If the war against terror goes too dramatically against the Bad Guys they may just quietly slip away and (shudder!) get jobs. Even if many of its fighters are dead, they said, the poverty and political repression that led to its creation remain. And the mullahs. Don't forget them. When it comes to root causes of violence, poverty and political repression don't hold a candle to mullahs. The officials would not comment on the fate of Tohir Yuldashev, the Islamic group's military commander. The United States has declared him a terrorist and frozen his U.S. assets. Yuldashev was Juma Namangani's second in command. After Juma was iced, he became supremo. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was formed in 1996, and included veterans of the 1992-1997 civil war in Tajikistan. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |