The independent Israeli intelligence site Debka's military and intelligence sources report
that Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, in
a single 70-minute conversation on September 23,
eleven days after the terrorist assaults in New York
and Washington, agreed on the deployment of tactical
weapons. This is an epic shift in the global balance
of strength.



Putin gave the nod for US forces poised in Central
Asia to jump into Afghanistan to be armed with
tactical nuclear weapons, such as small neutron bombs,
which emit strong radiation, nuclear mines, shells,
and other nuclear ammunition suited to commando
warfare in mountainous terrain.



In return, Bush assented to Russia deploying tactical
nuclear weapons units around Chechnya after Moscow's
ultimatum to the rebels, some of whom are backed by
Osama Bin Laden, to surrender, went by without
response. DEBKAfile's military sources place the US
nuclear weapons in four former Soviet Central Asian
bases: the military air facility at Tuzel, 15 km (10
miles) northwest of the Uzbek capital of Tashkent; at
Kagady in the Termez region; in Khandabad, near the
city of Karshi; and at the military air base in
Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.



In addition to the nuclear weapons units, Russian
bombers carrying small neutron bombs were moved to
Russian military air bases around the border of the
breakaway province, in Stavropol northwest of
Chechnya, the Godowta base in Georgia to the south,
and Mozdok in northern Osetia, northwest of Chechnya.



Russian and U.S. military sources refuse to take
questions on these startling events.

The US is far from eager to actively inject a nuclear
element into the war against terrorism and will not be
the first to do so. According to DEBKAfile's military
sources, the US plans to hold those tactical nuclear
weapons in reserve, unleashing them in the campaign
against bin Laden only in certain extreme
circumstances:



1. To counter a move by Bin Laden's men first bring
out nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against
the US force fighting inside Afghanistan.



2. If a chemical or biological assault by the Taliban
against Pakistan.



3. Should groups of bin Laden's Al Qaeda network -
either in Central Asia or the Balkans - wield these
weapons of mass destruction against US military
targets or US nuclear arms in other parts of the
world.



4. If using them is the only way to save heavy
American combat casualties.