Some 1,000 US elite troops are en route to Uzbekistan in the first major deployment of US ground forces in the showdown with Afghanistan, an official traveling with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday.
"The 10th mountain division is in the air," the official told reporters traveling with Rumsfeld from Cairo to Tashkent.
The crack light infantry division was flying to Uzbekistan from their base at Fort Drum, New York. Their mission would be to provide force protection for US military operations in Uzbekistan, the official said -- TASHKENT (AFP)
