US diplomat defends alliance with hardline Uzbek leadership
Agence France Presse
November 10A senior US official defended the United States' controversial military alliance with Uzbekistan and promised to push for human rights reform in the Central Asian republic.
"There are still a number of threats in the region, but we have a good partner in Uzbekistan," US Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones told reporters.
"Much as we appreciate out military base in (Uzbekistan) we will continue to work on improving reforms and the human rights situation in the country," Jones said.
Critics have accused Washington of turning a blind eye to abuses by ex-Soviet Uzbekistan ever since Tashkent agreed in 1999 to host US forces fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan at a massive Uzbek airbase.
As many as 6,500 people are thought to be imprisoned on political or religious grounds under secular President Islam Karimov's hardline leadership while a United Nations rapporteur has charged that the security forces use torture systematically.
US officials have argued that Washington has played a positive role, but even some of those who might have been expected to be sympathetic towards Washington, such as Britain's ambassador to Tashkent, have dismissed claims of improvements.
Jones emphasised on Monday that opposition parties should be allowed to participate in elections to a restructured bi-cameral parliament due next year and expressed hope that voting would be free and fair.
In a speech in Washington last week President George W. Bush called for the spread of democracy in Muslim countries.
US-led forces are widely thought to have crushed the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the main radical group blamed for a series of destabilising raids in the region between 1999 and 2001.
But the issue of whether the IMU might again pose a threat is "being watched very closely," Jones said.
Jones also welcomed a new decision by Tashkent to set up a fully-fledged customs post at the border with northern Afghanistan, which should allow a wider range of traffic between the countries.