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TASHKENT, Uzbekistan - The presidents of China, Russia and four Central Asian nations met Thursday to breathe life into a security alliance and open an anti-terrorism center, part of efforts by Beijing and Moscow to counter the U.S. military presence in the region. The leaders were joined by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who warned terrorists have continued infiltrating Afghanistan and that eradicating terrorism is a "long-term fight." The one-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, marked what Russian President Vladimir Putin said was the start of its work to become a vital international institution. He acknowledged the group...

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) - The suspects behind a wave of suicide bombings and attacks on police in Uzbekistan got military training from Arab instructors who also taught al-Qaida fighters, the country's top prosecutor said Friday. Prosecutor-General Rashid Kadyrov also said the militants were influenced by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist Islamic group that claims to disavow violence, and the Islamic Movement of Turkestan - a terrorist group believed to have emerged from the remains of an Uzbek group decimated in U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan. Kadyrov did not offer any evidence or take questions from reporters at his news briefing. Uzbekistan has...

KABUL (Reuters) - Forces of a renegade adviser to President Hamid Karzai overran the capital of a northern province of Afghanistan on Thursday, creating a fresh security headache for the government and its U.S.-led foreign backers. General Abdul Rashid Dostum's largely ethnic Uzbek militia invaded Faryab from neighboring provinces on Wednesday, prompting the central government to send national troops there on Thursday in an attempt to maintain control. The fighting in the north and another outbreak in the western province of Herat last month have been an unwanted diversion for Karzai and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan even as they battle...

Trapped al-Qa'eda leader is Uzbek mullah (Filed: 21/03/2004) Bin Laden's number two is no longer believed to be the man cornered in Pakistan. Massoud Ansari and Philip Sherwell report on the other leading al-Qa'eda figure suspected of leading the resistance. A tribal family flees from their home as Pakistani troops intensify their hunt for militants in Wana A radical Uzbek mullah who is one of Osama bin Laden's most important lieutenants is believed to be the senior al-Qa'eda figure leading the resistance to a ferocious five-day Pakistani offensive in Waziristan, the Telegraph has learned. As heavy artillery and Cobra helicopter...

<p>KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghans approved a new constitution on Sunday, embracing a deal shaped in three weeks of rancorous debate as a chance to cement a fragile peace and push ahead with reconstruction two years after a U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime.</p>

SO, PYRAMIDS, OR SOMETHING ELSE? A joint expedition of Russian and Uzbek archaeologists has discovered several ancient pyramids in Uzbekistan. According to the scientists, these 15-metre-high constructions concealed for human eyes may be at least 2,700 years old. The ancient pyramids were discovered in a remote mountains area, in Kashkadaryin and Samarkand regions, in the south of the country, BBC reports. Archaeologists state that the discovered pyramids are similar to that ones of Giza, Egypt, though in contrast of them, Uzbek pyramids they have a flat surface. According to the experts, thanks to their remoteness, the pyramids were not taken...

MOSCOW (AP) -- The head of Russia's radiation, chemical and biological defense troops denied Monday that Soviet troops could have left chemical weapons at an Uzbek base now being used by U.S. troops. U.S. military officials said Sunday that traces of nerve agents and mustard gas were found at the Khanabad air base. They said the contamination was thought to be from chemical weapons stored there by the Soviet Union. "In accordance with international agreements, the troops have long been rid of poisonous substances," Colonel General Viktor Kholstov told the Interfax-Military News Agency. "They are kept at special storage...