U.S. Promises to Leave Airbase in Uzbekistan

MosNews
Sep. 28, 2005

A U.S. senior official has confirmed Washington would leave an Uzbek airbase that Tashkent asked it to quit after the U.S. criticized Uzbekistan’s human rights record, Reuters reported.

Daniel Fried, U.S. assistant secretary of state in the bureau of European and Eurasian affairs, came to the Central Asian state amid a worsening of ties between the two countries that cooperated to overthrow Afghanistan’s Taliban militia.

Former Soviet Uzbekistan had allowed the Pentagon use of the airbase in its hunt for Osama bin Laden. It asked the troops to leave in July after Washington demanded an international probe into violence in the town of Andijan.

Witnesses say 500 protesters were killed by security forces in clashes in the eastern Uzbek town in May. The government puts the death toll at 187, mostly foreign-backed “terrorists”.

“Our interests in security and our interests in democracy are indivisible,” Fried said after meeting President Islam Karimov.

“We did not agree on some issues. I made it clear that the U.S. supports civil society including NGOs (non-governmental organizations) around the world,” Fried told journalists.

Human rights groups accuse Uzbekistan of imprisoning hundreds of political prisoners, and of the widespread use of torture in its jails. The government denies the allegations.

The U.S. had regarded its Karshi-Khanabad, or K2, base in Uzbekistan as crucial for its mission in Afghanistan, and the eviction will complicate efforts to end the fighting.

“We intend to leave it without further discussion. We respect this request by the government of Uzbekistan,” Fried said.

A group of men are currently on trial for the Andijan events, charged with terrorism and trying to overthrow the state. They have all pleaded guilty — something rights groups say was prompted by torture.

One defendant on Monday said the U.S. embassy in Tashkent had a role in organizing the violence. Fried denied this.

“These allegations are ludicrous. The assertions that the U.S. supports an attack by Islamic extremists after fighting four years against exactly such people is not credible,” he said.