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| The Alliance |
| Putin offers support |
| 2001-09-24 |
President Vladimir V. Putin tonight offered the United States broad support for antiterrorist operations in Afghanistan, including opening Russian airspace to relief missions, taking part in some search-and-rescue operations, and arming anti-Taliban forces inside Afghanistan. Combined with a Russian effort over the weekend to rally Central Asian countries to the American side, the announcement provided crucial support to the international coalition that the White House seeks to build in the wake of this month's terrorist attacks. It also appeared, after long deliberation and some doubt, to cast Russia's lot firmly in the Western antiterrorism camp. In doing so, Mr. Putin rejected arguments in some military and political circles that the Kremlin was not only inviting the United States into its strategic backyard, but flirting with another war with Islamic militants. In his brief speech on national television, Mr. Putin said Russia would provide the "active international cooperation" of its intelligence services and supply "weapons and military equipment" to the coalition of forces aligned against the radical Islamic Taliban government in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |