So far, more than a thousand refugees, including servicemen, have been let in since the fall of Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif that lies only 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border.

But official reports sometimes offer little clarity.

Uzbek prosecutors said on Monday that two dozen Afghan planes and helicopters carrying hundreds of servicemen crossed “illegally”, and at least one plane collided with an Uzbek Mig-29 fighter jet.

But they retracted their statement hours later saying it wasn’t “fully checked” – while the Defence Ministry reportedly said that at least one Afghan plane was shot down on late Sunday.


Hundreds of refugees crossed the river, hundreds more entered Uzbekistan via the bridge, and some flew in, Uzbek and Russian media reports suggest.

Some civilians, including women and children, were placed in tents in the sun-scorched steppes between the Friendship Bridge and the town of Termez.

Hundreds more, including soldiers loyal to exiled President Ashraf Ghani, are understood to be concentrated near the Friendship Bridge.

Independent media reports claim that Uzbeks let in former Afghan vice president and chameleonic strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum, a 67-year-old ethnic Uzbek who sided with the Soviets, the US-backed mujahideen, the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and the US-led NATO coalition.

The Taliban seized Dostum’s luxurious palace in Mazar-i-Sharif and drank tea from a golden tea set.

Desperation and fear
The border situation in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan is even more vague. ............... article continues