Rumsfeld on 'thank you' tour

Rumsfeld - rapid tour of the region

By Chloe Arnold in Baku

The United States Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has begun a whirlwind tour of the Caucasus and Central Asia with a visit to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

He thanked Azeri President Haider Aliyev for his country's support of US military action in Afghanistan and said he hoped the two countries would enjoy closer military co-operation in the future.

The stability in this region is as important to us as it is to you

Donald Rumsfeld

President Aliyev had hoped the US defence secretary would bring news of the repeal of a ban on direct government aid for Azerbaijan.

The ban was imposed during Azerbaijan's war with neighbouring Armenia in the early 1990s over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In recent weeks, the US congress has come close to lifting the ban in what some here say would be a concrete way of thanking Azerbaijan for supporting US military action in Afghanistan.

Mr Rumsfeld said the ban was to be lifted soon but gave no further details.

Strategic position

Mr Rumsfeld told Mr Aliyev that President Bush and the people of the United States were very grateful for Azerbaijan's continuing help in what it calls this war against terrorism.

He said Azerbaijan serves as an important crossroads in the world straddling, as it does, the continents of Europe and Asia.

He also announced the United States Government would lift military restrictions between the two countries in the very near future.

Uzbek President Karimov is a close American ally

The former Soviet republic has given the United States permission to use its air space which would provide a useful corridor between Russia and Iraq for planes taking off from US airbases in Turkey.

From Baku Mr Rumsfeld flies on to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and on Saturday evening he is expected in Tblisi in Georgia.

On Sunday he will continue on to Uzbekistan in Central Asia.