US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Thanks Uzbekistan For Cooperation In Combating Terrorism

During his visit to Tashkent US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expressed gratitude to Uzbekistan for cooperation in the struggle against terrorism. Rumsfeld said this on Sunday at the press conference held in the Uzbek capital after his meetings with President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and Minister of Defence of the republic Kadyr Gulyamov. According to the head of the Pentagon, at the talks the sides discussed a wide range of issues, among them "the current situation in Afghanistan and the problems of terrorism as a whole". Rumsfeld also noted that the USA highly values cooperation with Uzbekistan in the struggle against terrorism. The U.S. Defense Secretary also stressed that "any serious changes of the situation obtaining in cooperation between the USA and Uzbekistan" were not discussed during his meetings with the Uzbek leadership. As the Defence Minister of Uzbekistan said, questions of bilateral relations between the military agencies of the two countries were touched upon during the talks with his American counterpart and the course of the anti-terrorist operation which the USA is carrying out in Afghanistan was discussed. The US Defense Secretary will fly from Tashkent to Islamabad.