US, EU Hardening Stance Toward Uzbekistan

The United States and European Union are playing hardball with Uzbekistan, due to the refusal of Uzbek leaders to permit an independent international inquiry into the Andijan massacre.

Relations between the United States and EU on the one had and Uzbekistan on the other have soured with dramatic speed since the May 13 Andijan massacre. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Uzbekistan -- which insists the Andijan events were the result of an international Islamic radical conspiracy bent on overthrowing President Islam Karimov's administration -- has adamantly rejected repeated US and EU demands for an independent probe. Human rights groups, drawing on eyewitness accounts, insist that the bulk of the deaths in Andijan occurred when Uzbek security forces opened fire without warning on unarmed, civilian demonstrators. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, engineered a US Senate vote October 5 that prevents the Defense Department from making a $23-million payment to Uzbekistan for at least a year. The payment is connected with a lease deal under which US military forces used the Karshi-Khanabad (K-2) air base to fly support missions for on-going operations in Afghanistan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In late July, Uzbekistan ordered the eviction of US forces from the K-2. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Since then, Uzbek authorities have orchestrated a wide-ranging, anti-American media campaign. At the same, Tashkent has strengthened relations with Russia and China. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

An October 5 article published in the government daily Narodnoye Slovo repeated allegations that the US embassy in Tashkent provided assistance to the alleged Islamic militants who mounted the Andijan "uprising." The article went on to claim that US demand for an international investigation was designed chiefly "to erase an American