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Feature: No Panic in Uzbek Border City Amid Air Strikes in Afghanistan
No panic or tension has risen among local residents in the city of Termez in southern Uzbekistan, about 10 kilometers from the border with Afghanistan, following the US and British strikes in Afghanistan.
It was reported that the United States has rented a military air field near Termez, capital of Uzbekistan's southwest Surkhandarinskaya Oblast, from where the former Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan in 1979, after losing a decade-long fight in the Islamic country.
Reports said 1,000 U.S. Army soldiers arrived at the airport last week to prepare for a ground campaign from there into Afghanistan. But Xinhua reporters who flew here on Monday have not observed any panic or tension among local residents.
The only thing they found unusual here was that security measures at the civilian airport, where they landed after 1.5 hours' flight from Uzbek capital of Tashkent, have been somewhat stepped up, with more armed police guarding the entrances and exits and asking questions.
The situation in the town of Termez remains calm and peaceful. People live their lives as usual and no one is talking about the war, while bombings occur scores of kilometers away. Here Xinhua reporters didn't see combat units from the Uzbek Army or the U.S. armed forces. No war, no fighting, no military planes were observed in or around the city.
As their car drew close to the bridge linking Uzbekistan and Afghanistan over the border river Amu Darya, two traffic policemen standing beside a car on the road stopped them saying the road to the bridge had been closed. "No car, nobody will be allowed to cross the bridge without special permission issued by the border guard troops' headquarters," the policemen said.
Asked whether any fighting, shooting, artillery or missiles could be seen or heard on the other side of the border, they said "No." "The situation here is calm, no one has fired on us. The border is well defended and there will be no fighting here in the coming days," said an officer, adding that Uzbekistan has strengthened control over the borders and reinforced units have been stationed in key zones to prevent any trouble.
Here, reporters didn't see refugees. Local residents said there are Afghans in the city, but they have lived here for a long time and are not refugees.
A local taxi driver said he heard bombs exploding and saw lights from the bombardment from Afghanistan on Sunday night, when the United States and Britain began their first round of air attacks upon Kabul, Kandaha, and other Afghan cities. He said he saw U.S. planes taking off and landing at a military air base near the city.
But reporters have not found any direct evidence so far to support his remarks. Local residents are working and living normally. Wedding parties held at a restaurant beside the hotel still go on every evening as usual.
The best hotel at the center of the city now is full of foreign correspondents. Xinhua reporters have exchanged information with other foreign reporters, who said they found nothing to indicate that war is approaching Termez's residents. Local residents say they are not afraid that a war will occur between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.
"I don't fear the Taliban will attack us, as we are all Muslim brothers. I don't worry that Taliban will enter Uzbekistan because I believe our troops can stop them," a Termez young man told reporters, while criticizing the United States for describing Taliban as terrorists without decisive proof.
More than 200 journalists have gone to the town of Karshi, 320 kilometers away from northwest Termez. It was reported that U.S. military airplanes are using an airport there. Some taxi drivers told Xinhua they saw U.S. army aircraft flying in and out.
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