Russia, Uzbekistan Presidents Discuss Afghan Developments

On Wednesday, the Presidents of Russia and Uzbekistan discussed the Afghan developments. The Russian presidential press service told RIA Novosti that "in the course of a detailed conversation which lasted half an hour Vladimir Putin and Islam Karimov exchanged opinions on and assessments of the Afghan developments in the wake of the current anti-terror operation." According to the Kremlin press service, the two countries' leaders had a detailed discussion of the situation in Central Asia. "Both sides expressed satisfaction with a high level of coordination of bilateral cooperation which is of particular importance under the present-day conditions," the press service said. Putin and Karimov noted closeness of their approaches to the tasks and aims of the current operation for destroying the hot-beds of terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan and post-conflict settlement. The Presidents of Russia and Uzbekistan also discussed a number of practical bilateral issues, the Russian presidential press service added.