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CENTCOM Commander Franks Press Conference in Uzbekistan

TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS ROUNDTABLE WITH GENERAL TOMMY R. FRANKS
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command
September 27, 2000 
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
BBC: Given what you have said about your concern about stability and
security in the Central Asian region, when you meet with President
Karimov and the Defense Minister, will you be raising Afghanistan, and
what in particular is your view of what has been happening near the
Tajik border?
Gen. Franks: As a military man, I guess I would tell you that when I
meet with the President I will discuss whatever he would like.
(laughter) I suspect that the discussion will include Afghanistan, and
that we will discuss the recent incursions by the IMU [Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan], the terrorist organization. I will be very
interested to consult with the President and the Minister of Defense
to get their views. I am sure that all of you journalists who are
seated here are aware that our State Department has declared the IMU
as a terrorist organization. And as such, I am sure that we will talk
about where the sponsorship of that organization comes from. So I look
forward to a good discussion.
For potential follow-up, does that answer the question that you had in
mind?
BBC: Can you give some reaction to the current fighting in
Afghanistan, particularly to what appears to be a change in reaction
from the Uzbek leadership toward the Taliban?
Gen. Franks: I'll take the latter part of the question first. With
regard to Uzbek commentary on the Taliban, I am not familiar with that
and so I can't talk to that issue. I will give you my view, which is
that the situation inside of Afghanistan is troublesome. The fighting
that we currently see between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance is
destabilizing, and in fact Afghanistan as a failed state is
destabilizing to this entire region. We remain concerned about the
export of extremism, the trafficking in illegal narcotics, and
proliferation. And as I said before, the responsibility of the Central
Command is to do all that we can to provide stability. So anything
that produces instability is of concern to us.