Kyrgyzstan Opposes Attempts to Depict War as Confrontation Between Islam & Christianity

Kyrgyzstan opposes any kind of attempt to depict the war in Iraq as a confrontation between Islam and Christianity, the Kyrgyz foreign ministry said in a statement.

Such attempts at igniting religious discord, intolerance and extremist moods "are fraught with far-reaching negative consequences," asserts the foreign ministry, which believes recent developments prove that the US-British military operation in Iraq may soon be over.

Official Bishkek thinks it vitally important to "preserve the territorial integrity of Iraq," since "the country's break-up will bring about unpredictable consequences which may destabilize the situation in the region as well as on a larger scale." The Kyrgyz foreign ministry is convinced that "the United Nations' ability to cope with the conflict is not exhausted yet." "It is the UN and its universal possibilities and unique experience that can, and must, play the central role in post-conflict settlement and restoration in Iraq," reads the statement.

The foreign ministry also expresses its apprehension about growing rates of extremism and terrorism, which it says may damage the common goal and tasks of the international antiterrorist coalition.

"Any possible break-up of the coalition can have a negative effect on our joint efforts to establish peace and stability in neighboring Afghanistan and make successful completion of the counter-terrorist operation in Afghanistan and post-conflict settlement in this country recede into the background," note the authors of the document.