Afghan Conflict Prompts Uzbek-American Engagement
Afghan Conflict Prompts Uzbek-American Engagement
The growing engagement between the United States and Uzbekistan could eventually result in an American base in the country, four years after the last one closed following a freeze in relations, NBCentralAsia analysts.
On October 14, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, visited Tashkent and met President Islam Karimov, Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov and other top officials.
At a subsequent press conference, Blake said he discussed cooperation on Afghanistan with the Uzbek leadership.
“I expressed our appreciation for Uzbekistan’s contributions to the stabilisation of Afghanistan, not only through the transit of non-lethal goods, but also through provision of electricity and reconstruction for Afghanistan,” he said.
No agreements were signed, but some observers believe the US official’s visit was about more than electricity.
Farhod Tolipov, an associate professor at Tashkent’s University of World Economy and Diplomacy said Blake’s talks reflected the latest US strategy on Afghanistan, including a focus on securing overland routes into the country from the north.
“The northern corridor passing through Uzbek territory is certainly the most reliable and peaceful transport route into Afghanistan,” he said. “It is entirely possible that both countries will decide to open a military base in Uzbekistan, or to re-open the old one [outside Karshi] because this is about an active, large-scale transfer of freight”.
From 2001 to the autumn of 2005, the US had the use of an air base at Karshi in southeastern Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government ended the arrangement in autumn 2005 after Washington called for an international investigation into violence in Andijan in which hundreds of civilians were shot dead by the security forces.
Since then, the only western base supporting coalition operations in Afghanistan is a German military facility in the southern border town of Termez.
Over the last year or so, Uzbekistan has made efforts to repair its damaged relationship with the West. In February, it granted permission for NATO freight of a non-military nature to transit its territory to Afghanistan.
“With a view to its geopolitical interests, [President Barack] Obama’s administration has gone the diplomatic route and is trying not to exert pressure on Uzbekistan,” said Kamoliddin Rabbimov, an Uzbek political analyst living in France. “Afghanistan is currently the sole area in which the two countries’ interests coincide.”
This month, President Obama has been discussing strategy on Afghanistan with US military, intelligence and diplomatic chiefs and advisers.
Pragmatism based on geopolitical necessity has been an important factor in the new US mood of engaging with states that it once criticised, analysts say. According to a former officer in Uzbekistan’s intelligence service, this explains Washington’s renewed interest in Tashkent.
“Uzbekistan was, is and will continue to be the key country in the region,” he said, speaking said on condition of anonymity. “It has borders with all [other Central Asian] states and with Afghanistan, and it makes for a good partner in security terms because it has the most powerful army in Central Asia.”
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
On October 14, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, visited Tashkent and met President Islam Karimov, Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov and other top officials.
At a subsequent press conference, Blake said he discussed cooperation on Afghanistan with the Uzbek leadership.
“I expressed our appreciation for Uzbekistan’s contributions to the stabilisation of Afghanistan, not only through the transit of non-lethal goods, but also through provision of electricity and reconstruction for Afghanistan,” he said.
No agreements were signed, but some observers believe the US official’s visit was about more than electricity.
Farhod Tolipov, an associate professor at Tashkent’s University of World Economy and Diplomacy said Blake’s talks reflected the latest US strategy on Afghanistan, including a focus on securing overland routes into the country from the north.
“The northern corridor passing through Uzbek territory is certainly the most reliable and peaceful transport route into Afghanistan,” he said. “It is entirely possible that both countries will decide to open a military base in Uzbekistan, or to re-open the old one [outside Karshi] because this is about an active, large-scale transfer of freight”.
From 2001 to the autumn of 2005, the US had the use of an air base at Karshi in southeastern Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government ended the arrangement in autumn 2005 after Washington called for an international investigation into violence in Andijan in which hundreds of civilians were shot dead by the security forces.
Since then, the only western base supporting coalition operations in Afghanistan is a German military facility in the southern border town of Termez.
Over the last year or so, Uzbekistan has made efforts to repair its damaged relationship with the West. In February, it granted permission for NATO freight of a non-military nature to transit its territory to Afghanistan.
“With a view to its geopolitical interests, [President Barack] Obama’s administration has gone the diplomatic route and is trying not to exert pressure on Uzbekistan,” said Kamoliddin Rabbimov, an Uzbek political analyst living in France. “Afghanistan is currently the sole area in which the two countries’ interests coincide.”
This month, President Obama has been discussing strategy on Afghanistan with US military, intelligence and diplomatic chiefs and advisers.
Pragmatism based on geopolitical necessity has been an important factor in the new US mood of engaging with states that it once criticised, analysts say. According to a former officer in Uzbekistan’s intelligence service, this explains Washington’s renewed interest in Tashkent.
“Uzbekistan was, is and will continue to be the key country in the region,” he said, speaking said on condition of anonymity. “It has borders with all [other Central Asian] states and with Afghanistan, and it makes for a good partner in security terms because it has the most powerful army in Central Asia.”
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
