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American security expert in Kazakhstan

A leading American State Department advisor -- who's in Kazakhstan -- has discussed joint co-operation in fighting terrorism and extremism in the Central Asian region.

The advisor, Stephen Sestanovich, held talks in Almaty with the Kazakh Security Council secretary, Marat Tazhin.

At a news conference later, Mr Sestanovich rejected suggestions that the United States was seeking to use air bases in central Asia to launch strikes against bases of the Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden, whom the United States blames for the bombings of two American embassies in east Africa in 1998.

Mr Sestanovich said that the level of co-operation between the Unitged States and central Asian countries in the fight against terrorism gave no grounds for such reports. The central Asian republics, for their part, blame the Taleban administration in Kabul for the spread of drugs and weapons in the region.

Mr Sestanovich was also due to discuss military and economic co-operation with Kazakh officials.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service