Weekly news wrap

This week Washington sought to expand military cooperation with countries in Central Asia, but would likely cut down its military presence in the region, AP reported on Monday, citing a senior US general. General John P Abizaid, head of the US army's central command, said that the US military was looking for help to stabilise Afghanistan, which neighbours three of the former Soviet republics, but had no intention to establish new military bases in the region. The US expanded ties with Central Asia, setting up bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, following the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the start of the US-led war on terror in late 2001. Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev said in a statement that he and his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov, had agreed to join forces in combating “international terrorism” and “religious extremism”, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Tuesday. At a meeting in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, both countries’ heads of security services, Kyrgyzstan’s Busurmankul Tabaldiev and Uzbekistan’s Rustam Inoyatov, agreed to conduct joint anti-terror operations and exchange information on extremist religious organisations. Also on Tuesday, RFE/RL reported that Tashkent had accused a man, earlier extradited from Kyrgyzstan, of alleged links with the banned Islamic Party of Turkestan (IPT), formerly known as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), as well as the top leadership of the Al-Qaeda network. Dilshodbek Hojiev, who fled to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan after last year’s bloody crackdown on protestors by Uzbek security forces in the southeastern Uzbek city of Andijan, was sent back by Kyrgyz authorities with three other Uzbek citizens, who were later sentenced to between 13 and 17 years in prison. Craig Murray, Britain’s former top diplomat in Uzbekistan, who was removed from his post in 2004 following accusations of mismanagement and sexual misconduct, has published a book, “Murder in Samarkand” on the matter, AP reported on Monday. Murray won praises by human rights groups when he accused the government of Uzbek President Karimov of torture and of holding thousands of political and religious prisoners. Murray questioned Britain for being “allied to a guy like Karimov” in the US-led war against terror “when [Uzbekistan] is such a vicious place”. The British government said the book is a “betrayal of trust” and is considering whether to sue the former diplomat. Meanwhile, Tajikistan’s President, Emomali Rakhmonov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, met on Thursday to discuss the fight against illegal drugs, AP reported. Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world’s opium and neighbouring Tajikistan is a transit country for drug trafficking to Russia and Europe. Karzai said his government would continue working with the international community but warned funding was still not enough to encourage the Afghan population to stop puppy cultivation in the war-ravaged country. AJ/AH/DS