Almost immediately after Uzbek security forces fired on demonstrators in the eastern city of Andijon on 13 May, Russian officials, later supported by their Uzbek colleagues, began blaming elements infiltrating from Afghanistan for instigating the events and claimed that the combat capability of subversive elements in Afghanistan was not diminishing. However, the final declaration from the meeting of the heads of member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, held recently in Astana, Kazakhstan, called for the U.S. and its allies to withdrawal their military units from Central Asia. RFE/RL examines the contradiction in the two comments made by Moscow and some of its Central Asian allies.
