While Taliban forces remain in control of northern Afghanistan along the Uzbek border, Oshima said Afghan nationals would be able to help once the aid has been delivered to the other side of the river.

CNN: Uzbekistan opens border town to U.N.

Kamgar's godfather: General Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek warlord who controlled northern Afghanistan despite Taliban inroads in the 1990s and is the leader of an ethnic Uzbek party.

FORBES: Lord of the Skies

But two of the most powerful warlords, Abdul Rashid Dostum, the Uzbek general who rules over the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, and Ismael Khan, who rules Herat in the west, refused to take the bait.

ECONOMIST: Small change | The