July 3, 2003

Kyrgyzstan says that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), thought to have been destroyed during the 2001 American campaign in Afghanistan (where its key leaders were killed or captured), has regrouped in Afghanistan. The new group, now calling itself the Islamic Movement of Turkestan (IMT), are thought to be responsible for several recent terror attacks in Central Asia. The Islamic radicals are also working with the drug gangs, as they did when the Taliban ran Afghanistan. The corrupt dictatorships that have developed in Central Asia, since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, provide more recruits for Islamic radical groups.