While a US military buildup proceeds in Central Asia, the US government is taking steps to evacuate American civilian volunteers working in the region. Despite the evident danger, some volunteers are reluctant to leave.

The US State Department recently issued a security bulletin covering Uzbekistan, which has emerged as a key logistical point for the US anti-terrorism effort. US transports have reportedly ferried military equipment to Tashkent for potential use against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. Uzbek authorities have not confirmed the presence of US warplanes in Uzbekistan.

"As a precaution against the potential deterioration in security conditions outside the capital and consequent disruption of travel, the personnel of a US G[overnment]-affiliated organization located outside the capital are preparing to leave the country," the bulletin said.

Local observers said the advisory covered Peace Corps volunteers. A Peace Corps source told EurasiaNet that the decision to evacuate volunteers was preventative in nature, and ought not to be viewed as a reflection of actual security conditions in Uzbekistan.

Primarily, the evacuation advisory was influenced by the overwhelming calls from parents of Peace Corps members expressing their concerns about the safety of their children. Uzbekistan shares a roughly 80-mile frontier with Afghanistan. US officials indicated that early action was necessary because volunteers are scattered throughout far-flung regions of the country, some of which have unreliable communication systems.

Media observers say a general lack of information about security developments, both in Uzbekistan and across the region, make it difficult to gauge the possible safety threat to Peace Corps volunteers. At present, state-controlled media, though claiming a pro-US stance, makes no concrete mention of Uzbekistan's participation in the US's anti-terrorism struggle. The government's silence helps foster anxiety and misinformation among the population.

The Peace Corps opened its humanitarian assistance program in Uzbekistan in 1992 and 415 of its volunteers have served in the country to date. It currently administers the program with nearly 150 volunteers who serve a two-year term, living in communities throughout Uzbekistan's regions, offering technical assistance in the education and health sectors. Volunteers are English teachers, business education teachers and health educators, living on the level of the local population, often with "host families," receiving stipends commensurate with local salary levels. They communicate predominantly in the Uzbek language.

Volunteers were told September 22 that they should consolidate in regional capitals. According to a humanitarian aid worker in Ferghana City in Uzbekistan's Ferghana Valley, a Peace Corps leader there received a telephone call on his mobile phone during a meeting on the formulation of new educational projects. "When he [the Peace Corps volunteer] returned back to the room, they were told to immediately stop the conference and that Peace Corps volunteers were to go back to their towns or villages, collect their belongings and [go] within an hour to the city and to report to Tashkent the following day," the source told EurasiaNet.

"We were upset when we heard," said one Peace Corps volunteer who was serving in the Ferghana Valley. "We were in shock. Some of our counterparts were crying, they were sad. They weren't worried at all about their safety. They had no idea of any potential problems in the region, because they have no information."

Most Uzbeks living in Uzbekistan's regions receive their news from Russian TV news programs if they can afford to purchase a satellite dish. Uzbek state news has reported nothing about Uzbekistan's security situation, or about the extent of the country's cooperation with the United States. One volunteer said that at the school where he taught he held a discussion with the students about what kind of information they had. "The information was really bad, mostly from Russian television, where they got ideas like there were 11 planes involved in the crashes in the US, instead of four. Or that Russia had offered assistance and the US was refusing it," he said.

Peace Corps volunteers themselves, many of them isolated in areas with poor communications links and limited access to Internet, also felt concern over the lack of information. "We have no understanding of what's going on. There are rumors that American troops may have closed the border. We don't know why we're leaving. No one's been very up front with us," said one volunteer.

One volunteer who lives in a "Kishlak," or a rural Uzbek village, said that she didn't want to leave. "I love the language and the country. It took me nine months to learn the language and culture, to learn about the people. It was hard work and it took a while to get settled in."

Given the close bonds that they have forged with local residents, parting amidst uncertain circumstances is difficult for many Peace Corps volunteers. "I don't want to leave my host family. When I came to tell them the news, they were crying their eyes out," one volunteer said. "I had only one hour to say goodbye to them. They didn't understand why I was leaving. They said, 'it's peaceful here