Uzbekistan: New US Ambassador, New Policy?

Signs coming out of Uzbekistan indicate that Tashkent and Washington are probing for ways to improve relations. The catalyst for the attempted rapprochement is the new US ambassador in Tashkent, Richard Norland.

Norland presented his credentials to Uzbek President Islam Karimov is late September. Since then, he has been perhaps more active than any US diplomat since the May 2005 Andijan events, which caused US-Uzbek relations to rupture. In published accounts of his travels and meetings, Norland has used decidedly conciliatory rhetoric.

On November 1, the US envoy met with Uzbekistan's parliament-appointed human rights ombudsman, Saiora Rashidova. A report on the meeting posted on the UzReport.com website portrayed Norland as voicing a desire to foster a new bilateral relationship, and to find "common language" on humanitarian issues, including human rights. In the aftermath of Andijan, the United States was outspoken in its criticism of the Karimov administration's human rights violations, especially the crackdown on freedom of expression. During his meeting with the ombudsman, however, Norland reportedly acknowledged US rights abuses associated with the Abu Grahib prison in Iraq and the Guantanamo military base in Cuba. "He recognized the fact that no country has a monopoly" on good human rights behavior, according to the UzReport account.

Rashidova, the ombudsman, is a daughter of Sharaf Rashidov, who was Uzbekistan's long-time Communist Party boss during the Soviet era. Rashidov's tenure in power, lasting from 1959 until his death in 1983, produced mixed results. He presided over a period of impressive economic development in Uzbekistan, but his administration was marked by nepotism and corruption connected with the cotton industry.

In late October, Norland gave a speech in Tashkent to the American Chamber in which he sought to rekindle investor interest in Uzbekistan. He praised entrepreneurs attending the event as "adventure capitalists," according to a US Embassy statement, going on to outline three steps for improved relations; "to rebuild trust, to create greater transparency, and to galvanize the reform process." The statement lacked any specific reference to a need for Uzbekistan to improve its human rights performance.

Norland paid a diplomatic visit to Samarkand in mid October. Under normal circumstances, such trips are not especially noteworthy. But after the chill in US-Uzbek relations set in, Norland's predecessor, Jon Purnell, rarely ventured out of Tashkent. The new ambassador's itinerary included visits to the Center for State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance, described by the US Embassy as a facility "for identifying dangerous pathogens." The second stop was the Central Asia Seed Company, which processes raw cotton.

Local political analysts suggest that the two site visits offer clues into possible areas of US-Uzbek cooperation, if a thaw comes about. The fact that Norland visited cultural sites and local museums in Samarkand, but the embassy did not mention any meetings with local non-governmental organization activists, could be interpreted as a goodwill gesture made to the Uzbek government, Tashkent observers added.

The muted Uzbek media response to Norland's Samarkand trip may indicate that Karimov's administration is interested in hearing what Washington has to say.

An additional indicator of diplomatic maneuvering is connected with a recent trip made by Richard Fitzmaurice, a political officer at the US Embassy in Tashkent, to the city of Jizzak, about 100 miles southwest of the capital. The trip was not publicized by the embassy and received no coverage in Uzbek media. Indeed, it was what Fitzmaurice didn't do – avoid meeting with local human rights activists – that attracted the most attention. One rights group complained that Fitzmaurice attempted to keep the trip a "secret." In Jizzak, Fitzmaurice reportedly talked with representatives of Istikbolli Avlod (Future Generation), an organization designed to combat human trafficking that was established in 2005 with USAID assistance.