Uzbekistan Tests U.S. Policy Goals
WASHINGTON — In its struggle with Islamic extremism, the United States has had few better friends than President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, who has provided both intelligence and military facilities. But Karimov's government has emerged as one of the toughest tests of the Bush administration's campaign to promote democracy, especially in the Muslim world.
In the month since Uzbek armored personnel carriers rolled into the town of Andijon and troops opened fire on protesters, Karimov's authoritarian government has refused U.S. calls for an independent international investigation.
Nonetheless, the Bush administration has been tepid in its criticism. Karimov's record on democracy and the economy has been worsening in recent years, but he rules the most populated of the Central Asian nations and one of the most strategically located, and allows the United States to use its military bases.
The Uzbekistan case pits one of President Bush's stated top priorities, demanding that dictators begin reforms that would defuse support for Islamic extremism, against one of his key military concerns, securing access to bases to support U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
Moreover, were Karimov to fall, he could be succeeded by a radical Islamic government that would be even less to U.S. liking, analysts said.
However, the United States is considering taking Uzbekistan to the United Nations for a human rights investigation, State Department officials said.
"We are considering all of our diplomatic options, including at the U.N.," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said last week.
The United States has been talking to other countries to drum up support for an international investigation, he added.
Karimov has allowed the U.S. military to use the Karshi Khanabad airfield and other bases in southeastern Uzbekistan for special operations in neighboring Afghanistan.
But critics say Uzbekistan under Karimov also illustrates the "freedom deficit" that the Bush administration cites as a root cause of terrorism.
Karimov has not lived up to pledges he made to increase democracy in a 2002 agreement he signed with Bush, and is using terrorism as an excuse to crack down on domestic opposition, critics charge.
On the other hand, Karimov has released some prisoners and allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross access to some of Uzbekistan's notorious prisons for the first time.
