Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon, hoping to intensify pressure on the Taliban, has decided to put military aircraft at one or more airfields in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan on Afghanistan’s northern border, a senior defense official said Monday.
The decision on the Tajik base follows an onsite assessment by U.S. military advisers of the feasibility of using as many as three Tajik airfields. The Tajik government had offered the bases for U.S. use against Afghanistan, and the decision to go ahead could mean more Air Force fighter-bombers will be sent there soon.
The U.S. defense official, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity, said it was not yet clear how much local improvement would be needed before the airfield could be put to use. The official was not certain which airfield was chosen out of three offered: Kulyab, Khojand and Kurgan-Tyube.
The U.S. military already is using one airfield in Uzbekistan, where at least 1,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division are based.
The significance of using one or more airfields in Tajikistan is twofold: It offers a chance to fly shorter attack missions in support of anti-Taliban forces, possibly offering some relief to Navy pilots who have been flying long missions from carriers, and, secondly, it offers an opportunity to expand the delivery of humanitarian relief to Afghans.
In other developments:
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