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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63995-2002Oct9.html Uzbekistan Locals Mixed on US Base By Bagila Bukharbayeva Associated Press Writer Wednesday, October 9, 2002; 3:34 AM -The Americans moved in last year shortly before Oct. 7, the day bombing operations began in Afghanistan, about 125 miles to the south. Immediately after U.S. troops arrived, the Khanabad base next to the city of Karshi was sealed tightly by a three-mile security zone. -But the endless string of trucks every day only fuels fears that U.S. troops will never leave, but instead expand their presence and force residents out. -"Nobody knows how long they are going to stay. Maybe they will resettle us altogether," said Ravil Bazarov, a 50-year-old taxi driver from Karshi. KARSHI, Uzbekistan –– The procession of construction trucks flows unabated into one of the most secret U.S. bases in the war on terrorism, guarded by newly erected watchtowers and barbed wire in this remote corner of southern Uzbekistan. The Americans moved in last year shortly before Oct. 7, the day bombing operations began in Afghanistan, about 125 miles to the south. Immediately after U.S. troops arrived, the Khanabad base next to the city of Karshi was sealed tightly by a three-mile security zone. Local residents first reacted with panic after hearing the unfamiliar sounds of landing U.S. aircraft. News from the outside world hardly reaches here, and Uzbekistan's state-controlled media reported about the deal with the Americans days after U.S. troops began settling in. For some, that panic has turned into financial opportunity. This key forward base has become a source of income for hundreds of desperately poor local people. Sherali Khojakulov waited two months before being told recently he had been hired as a carpenter at the base. He was working at a Karshi hotel but had not been paid for five months. "There are fewer jobless people in Khanabad now," the 25-year-old Khojakulov said while sitting outside the shabby hotel, which has not had guests for months. Yet he also was nostalgic about the times when, as a boy, he watched Soviet aircraft soar overhead. "The air was cleaner then and there was not so much secrecy," he said. Residents also are increasingly irritated about the security restrictions resulting from having American soldiers as neighbors – fields have been closed off to grazing and relatives' visits have been made more difficult. Cattle and sheep cannot freely graze around the base, and the Americans have just finished building a concrete wall around the airfield that cuts through the middle of a cotton field. People in Khanabad, adjacent to the base, complain they have to get special permission if they want to invite relatives, and everything they bring in is searched. Officials deny the U.S. presence causes any inconvenience. "There is no infringement of anybody's rights," said Col. Shomurod Suvonov, the regional police department's inspections chief. "People can freely visit Khanabad, they just have to show their passports." But the endless string of trucks every day only fuels fears that U.S. troops will never leave, but instead expand their presence and force residents out. Over the weekend, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said at a summit in Tajikistan that U.S. forces should stay in Central Asia as long as necessary to insure peace and stability. "Nobody knows how long they are going to stay. Maybe they will resettle us altogether," said Ravil Bazarov, a 50-year-old taxi driver from Karshi. Another irritant is the secrecy over how much the United States pays for using Khanabad and where the money goes. Most people believe that money only enriches top officials in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. An Uzbek pilot based at Khanabad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Uzbek government gets $1,000 for each takeoff and landing made by U.S. aircraft. One of the pilot's duties is to record each flight at the base, and he said nearly 3,000 takeoffs and landings have been made by U.S. pilots – such heavy use that Khanabad's concrete runway has cracked in the middle and repairs are planned this month. The pilot also said it has been a humiliating experience for him and his fellow pilots to share the base with the well-paid and well-equipped U.S. troops. "We are ashamed to admit that we are pilots," he said. "Of course, it hurts – even our flight uniforms are worn and torn." The pilot's monthly pay after a recent raise is 78,000 soms – about $75. Newly hired carpenter Khojakulov will earn $70 a month when he starts working for the Americans – seven times his hotel salary. "As long as they give jobs, it's fine by me if they stay on," Khojakulov said. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
