By empty (2/21/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Uzbekistan will allow the United States to keep military forces here as long as needed for operations in Afghanistan, and would consider a permanent U.S. outpost if Washington wanted one, the Uzbek foreign minister said in an interview Saturday.

By empty (2/21/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The commander of Russia\'s Fifth Airborne Division, General Yevgenii Yurev told Interfax that by the end of this year, the number of service personnel stationed at the Russian air base at Kant will rise from the current 200 to 800. The number of aircraft stationed at the base is scheduled to be doubled, and in the course of the year runways are to be upgraded to accommodate heavy aircraft. (Interfax).

By empty (2/21/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement held its founding congress in Almaty on 21 February. Although only 180 delegates attended the congress, they reportedly represented an additional 1,267 people who submitted letters of proxy, making the total well over the 1,000 people required to validate a party\'s founding congress. The congress adopted a party program and a charter, both of which will be submitted with other registration documents to the Justice Ministry.