Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban said on Sunday they were deploying an extra 8,000 fighters along the border with the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, a Pakistan-based Afghan news agency reported. Quoting unnamed Taliban defence ministry sources, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said although there were already several thousand fighters along the border, reinforcements were needed after reports the United States was deploying its troops in Uzbekistan.
``We have deployed our forces there at all important places. This is the question of our self respect and we will never bow before the Americans and will fight to the last,`` AIP quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying. Uzbekistan`s President Islam Karimov on Friday told visiting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld he would make an air base available for use by US cargo planes, helicopters and troops, but only for humanitarian and rescue operations.
Some 1,000 US soldiers have been sent to Uzbekistan in an unprecedented deployment of American forces in the former Soviet Republic. Bureau Report