A Russian television network has reported that a U-S Hercules military transport plane has landed in Uzbekistan, a northern neighbor of Afghanistan.
A correspondent for N-T-V Independent Television said the American military cargo plane landed at Khanabad airport early today (Sunday).
Khanabad is 200 kilometers from the Afghan border.
The Russian news service reported that a similar plane took off from the airport an hour after the first landed.
A U-S Defense Department press officer declined comment on the report. The Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, has said his country will allow access to its airspace by U-S military.
The Khanabad airport was used by the former Soviet Union for air force operations during Moscow's occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.
The armed Afghan opposition National Alliance has long used its contacts in Uzbekistan to smuggle arms into Afghanistan for its war against the Taleban. Russia and Iran have provided military aid to the opposition.