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Rumsfeld Trip Apparently Paying Off
Saturday, November 3, 2001
CBS News Online

Donald Rumsfeld.
Photo Credit: The Associated Press.

Rumsfeld is offering Tajikistan a new relationship with the U.S. including tens of millions of dollars in aid.

* Seeks More Backing For U.S. Afghan Campaign
* Renews Russian Support; Key Tajik Assistan Seen
* Whirlwind Tour Also Takes Him To Three More Key Nations
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- CBS
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived Saturday to Uzbekistan, a key Central Asian ally in the military campaign in Afghanistan, as part of a lightning tour that had already taken him to Russia and Tajikistan.

He made no comment on arrival late at night in Tashkent from Tajikistan which, like Uzbekistan, has strategic significance for the United States since it borders Afghanistan. Russia had earlier renewed a promise of intelligence support for the war.

After meeting Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov in Dushanbe, Rumsfeld expressed gratitude for the former Soviet republic's cooperation with U.S. "overflights and intelligence and various types of military-to-military cooperation."

Tajikistan and Afghanistan share a long and porous border, which is jointly guarded by Tajik and Russian border guards. Russia also has a motorized rifle division stationed in Tajikistan, long a key route for weapons smugglers and drug traffickers coming from Afghanistan.

Tajikistan has offered the use of its airspace and other support for U.S. search-and-rescue and humanitarian operations.

Rumsfeld told journalists that experts from both sides would study what additional help could be provided in the war against the Islamic Taliban movement that rules Afghanistan.

CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews, traveling with Rumsfeld, reports that additional help could include use of one or more Tajik air bases.
(More: CBSNews.com News Source)
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Dan