Uzbekistan: US Official Reticent Following Tashkent Talks

A high-level State Department official's visit to Tashkent failed to yield new agreements on Afghanistan-related security cooperation.

Assistant US Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said his meetings focused on trade, regional security, and human rights. Blake did not reveal which civil society activists he met with, and evaded commenting on recent US Department of Labor recommendations to boycott Uzbek cotton because of the Uzbek government's organized use of child labor, the CA-news.org news agency reported on October 14.

US and Uzbek officials did announce plans to form an intergovernmental commission to coordinate bilateral relations, Blake said. Blake met President Islam Karimov and Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, the report added.