Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Authorities say there are many foreigners fighting alongside the Taliban in Pakistan. Some of them are from the central Asian nation of Uzbekistan. Anchor Marco Werman finds out more from the head of the BBC’s Uzbek Service, Sirojiddin Tolibov.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: As we’ve reported Pakistan’s army is continuing its offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. The Pakistani government soldiers number about 28,000. They’re battling about 10,000 insurgents. Perhaps the toughest fighters in the insurgency are from the central Asian nation of Uzbekistan. Sirojiddin Tolibov is with the BBC’s Uzbek service. He’s in London. Now why do these Uzbek fighters have such a fierce reputation, Siroj?

SIROJIDDIN TOLIBOV: Because they have very strong military background. Some of them used to be soldiers of the Soviet Army during the invasion to Afghanistan in 1980s and some of them had military trainings in Pakistan with CIA during 1990s. So they are experts, masters, on gorilla war. All these years, over the last 10, 15 years, they have been involved in fighting. This is their bread and butter.

WERMAN: And how did they end up in Waziristan in the first place?

TOLIBOV: We have to go back to 1990s before the collapse of the Soviet Union in Uzbekistan where a group, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, was set up with the ideas of setting up Islamic state with sharia law. Eventually when Karimov, the current president, started repressive policy towards them most of them fled to Tajikistan where civil war was going on. In 1998 they moved from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and joined the Taliban and when American invasion began they found safe havens in tribal areas of Waziristan, South Waziristan and North Waziristan.

WERMAN: Now clearly these Uzbek militants provide military talent to this area of South Waziristan but how does their presence there actually complicate the current situation?

TOLIBOV: These IMU fighters, Uzbek fighters, they don’t have anything to lose. It’s difficult for them to escape somewhere else. They can’t go back to Uzbekistan. They can’t go Pakistan. They can’t go to Afghanistan. They only place they can stay and fight like lions in a cage – South Waziristan. So they will fight until the end.

WERMAN: And if you compare them to the Waziris, the people who inhabit Waziristan, would you call them kind of really foreign fighters? I mean in terms of their language, culture, and religion. I mean how different are they to the locals?

TOLIBOV: The only common thing that they have with Waziristani people is their religion. All of them Muslims but most of the IMU fighters have very good education, secular education. They are graduates from the universities, military background, they’re teachers, specialists on engineering, construction, architecture, everything. And their language is also different. They speak in Uzbek which belongs to Turkic group of languages. And Waziristani people most of them speak in Pashto. And also they are facial also different. Uzbeks are more close to Chinese or Mongolian type of people while Waziristani people are darker and Caucasian type.

WERMAN: Now you mentioned ties between the Uzbek militants and Weegers in Zhejiang Province in China. I mean is that a relationship that one should be alert to?

TOLIBOV: You see Weegers and Uzbeks are almost the same nation. Closest language to Uzbek is Weeger. And they look the same. And they have the same history. You can’t divide them into various groups. They are united under one [INDISCERNIBLE], the aim of which is to establish Islamic faith.

WERMAN: In this part of the world?

TOLIBOV: Throughout the world.

WERMAN: Throughout the world.

TOLIBOV: Of course. And this idea will lead them and they say it. So we are not going to lose. If we die we’ll go to paradise. If we win then we win.

WERMAN: Siroj Tolibov with the BBC’s Uzbek Service. Thank you for explaining this to us.

TOLIBOV: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.