US military aircraft have landed at a base in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan, an Uzbek military official told AFP Saturday.
The official, who asked not to be named, said the planes were carrying reconnaissance equipment and were based at the Tuzel air base, just outside the capital Tashkent.
Diplomatic sources also said the United States had helicopters, used in earlier in joint exercises between Uzbekistan and NATO forces, stationed in Chirchik, 40 kilometers from Tashkent.
Uzbekistan, like neighboring Tajikstan, had earlier said it would deny the United States access to its military bases in the case of US military action against Afghanistan.
War with Afghanistan now seems almost inevitable almost two weeks after the devastating terrorist attacks on US cities, which the US administration has blamed on the Afghan-based extremist Osama bin Laden.
President Islam Karimov said on Wednesday that his country had not yet negotiated the possibility of opening its airspace to the United States, but that it would consider participating in such talks -- TASHKENT (AFP)
