Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
January 30, 2008
Pg. 13
By David R. Sands, Washington Times
The United States and European Union have quietly reached out to Uzbekistan in recent days, despite what activists describe as a dismal record on human rights and political liberties in the strategically located Central Asian country.
Adm. William J. Fallon, head of the U.S. Central Command, last week made a low-key visit to Tashkent — the highest-level U.S. military visit to the Uzbek capital since relations all but collapsed in the wake of the bloody suppression of an opposition protest in May 2005.
Stung by Western protests, authoritarian Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov ordered U.S. troops to leave an air base that had provided key support for military operations in neighboring Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks. He also blocked all proposals for an independent foreign investigation in the 2005 clash in the eastern city of Andijan.
Adm. Fallon's stop in Tashkent was part of a tour of Central Asian capitals, and the U.S. commander indicated prior to his visit he did not plan to discuss use of the air base.
But his visit included talks with Mr. Karimov, the defense minister and other top security officials, according to the official Uzbek press.
Mr. Karimov told the admiral he saw the meeting as an opportunity to discuss "issues of common interest, first of all in the military and arms sphere."
The brief U.S. Embassy account of the visit said the admiral came "to renew dialogue with an important regional player."
Human rights activists say the Fallon visit — and one earlier this month by European Central Asian envoy Pierre Morel — are a diplomatic gift to Mr. Karimov at a time when his government has shown little inclination to improve its record.
Washington-based Freedom House recently rated Uzbekistan near the bottom in its global survey of democracy and political liberties. The country's score was not helped when Mr. Karimov overwhelmingly won a third seven-year term last month without bothering to amend the constitution limiting presidents to two terms in office.
"We would be profoundly skeptical that any new opening to the Uzbek government at this time will change things very much," said Jeff Goldstein, senior program manager for Central Asia at Freedom House.
Ismail Dadajanov, an Uzbek opposition leader currently in exile, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Uzbek-language service that Western rapprochement "will lead to the strengthening of Uzbekistan's dictatorship and terrorist threats in the world in general because people will think, 'If Western democracies support Islam Karimov, it means democracy is alien to us.' "
But Mr. Karimov's value to the U.S. military has elevated in recent months as the conflict in Afghanistan drags on and Pakistan faces severe internal strains. Uzbekistan, by far the most populous of the Central Asian states, also looms as a key transit route for oil and natural gas from the region to world markets.
The European Union last year eased some sanctions imposed on Uzbekistan as Tashkent released several high-profile political prisoners and announced plans to abolish the death penalty.
In his inaugural address last month, Mr. Karimov made an explicit appeal for better ties to the West.
Accusing unnamed parties of seeking to benefit from his country's rift with the West, Mr. Karimov said, "Uzbekistan, in its foreign policy, has adhered to mutually beneficial cooperation with and mutual respect for its close and far neighbors, including the United States and Europe."
January 30, 2008
Pg. 13
By David R. Sands, Washington Times
The United States and European Union have quietly reached out to Uzbekistan in recent days, despite what activists describe as a dismal record on human rights and political liberties in the strategically located Central Asian country.
Adm. William J. Fallon, head of the U.S. Central Command, last week made a low-key visit to Tashkent — the highest-level U.S. military visit to the Uzbek capital since relations all but collapsed in the wake of the bloody suppression of an opposition protest in May 2005.
Stung by Western protests, authoritarian Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov ordered U.S. troops to leave an air base that had provided key support for military operations in neighboring Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks. He also blocked all proposals for an independent foreign investigation in the 2005 clash in the eastern city of Andijan.
Adm. Fallon's stop in Tashkent was part of a tour of Central Asian capitals, and the U.S. commander indicated prior to his visit he did not plan to discuss use of the air base.
But his visit included talks with Mr. Karimov, the defense minister and other top security officials, according to the official Uzbek press.
Mr. Karimov told the admiral he saw the meeting as an opportunity to discuss "issues of common interest, first of all in the military and arms sphere."
The brief U.S. Embassy account of the visit said the admiral came "to renew dialogue with an important regional player."
Human rights activists say the Fallon visit — and one earlier this month by European Central Asian envoy Pierre Morel — are a diplomatic gift to Mr. Karimov at a time when his government has shown little inclination to improve its record.
Washington-based Freedom House recently rated Uzbekistan near the bottom in its global survey of democracy and political liberties. The country's score was not helped when Mr. Karimov overwhelmingly won a third seven-year term last month without bothering to amend the constitution limiting presidents to two terms in office.
"We would be profoundly skeptical that any new opening to the Uzbek government at this time will change things very much," said Jeff Goldstein, senior program manager for Central Asia at Freedom House.
Ismail Dadajanov, an Uzbek opposition leader currently in exile, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Uzbek-language service that Western rapprochement "will lead to the strengthening of Uzbekistan's dictatorship and terrorist threats in the world in general because people will think, 'If Western democracies support Islam Karimov, it means democracy is alien to us.' "
But Mr. Karimov's value to the U.S. military has elevated in recent months as the conflict in Afghanistan drags on and Pakistan faces severe internal strains. Uzbekistan, by far the most populous of the Central Asian states, also looms as a key transit route for oil and natural gas from the region to world markets.
The European Union last year eased some sanctions imposed on Uzbekistan as Tashkent released several high-profile political prisoners and announced plans to abolish the death penalty.
In his inaugural address last month, Mr. Karimov made an explicit appeal for better ties to the West.
Accusing unnamed parties of seeking to benefit from his country's rift with the West, Mr. Karimov said, "Uzbekistan, in its foreign policy, has adhered to mutually beneficial cooperation with and mutual respect for its close and far neighbors, including the United States and Europe."