Tashkent - Central Asian leaders expressed support yesterday for the US-led campaign in Afghanistan, which they hope will halt an influx of Islamic extremism and drug trafficking in the volatile region.
"The defeat of international terrorism in Afghanistan is for the good of our states," said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev after a meeting of the heads of four former Soviet republics in Central Asia. "We are thankful to the coalition, above all the United States, which has squeezed this source of terrorism and drug aggression." The four presidents meeting in the Uzbek capital Tashkent expressed support for Afghanistan's interim administration and said they were ready to provide humanitarian and other support to the Afghan people in constructing a democratic state.