The U.S. has been accused of becoming soft on Uzbekistan's human rights record because of its close military cooperation with Tashkent on the Northern Distribution Network, which carries a significant portion of U.S.'s war materiel to Afghanistan via Central Asia. But evidence has been somewhat hard to come by to either prove or disprove that assertion.
Now, though, a conflict is brewing that could be a big litmus test for exactly how far the U.S. is willing to push Uzbekistan on human rights, and how much Uzbekistan is willing to push back. An Uzbek journalist for the Voice of America, based in Tashkent, has been arrested and goes on trial next week for various defamation and being a "threat to public order and security." International observers are unanimous on the charges being trumped up and intended to frighten Uzbekistan's already beleaguered press.
The U.S. ambassador to the OSCE released a statement condemning the journalist's treatment:
The United States wishes to express its grave concern about the state of media freedom in Uzbekistan. We find particularly worrying the present charges brought against journalist Abdulmalik Boboyev. A majority of the charges against Mr. Boboyev are related directly to his work as a journalist, including charges of insult, defamation and preparing and disseminating material constituting a threat to public order and security. A fourth charge is for “illegal entry into the country” and apparently stems from a minor incident involving a missing stamp in Mr. Boboyev’s passport.
Despite having worked for Voice of America in Uzbekistan since 2005, and despite repeated attempts to register with the government, Mr. Bobyev’s applications for registration seem to have been ignored by Uzbek authorities, leaving him without official accreditation and open to governmental criticism for being unregistered. Such tactics are unfair.
But the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent has been quiet about the matter -- so far. If the trial goes ahead, U.S. officials will be watched very closely and will get a lot of criticism if it looks like they aren't doing everything possible to help the reporter. But they'll also surely remember 2005, when they belatedly and mildly criticized Uzbekistan for the Andijan massacre, and still got kicked out of the Karshi-Khanabad airbase as a result.
My thought: the U.S. can probably push a lot harder this time than it did in 2005. For one, Uzbekistan is making a lot of money off the NDN, including the state railroad company and private freight companies that are closely connected to government officials. So there's an economic incentive for Uzbekistan to keep the NDN humming.
Secondly, President Islam Karimov is a lot more confident in his position now than he was in 2005, after five years of hounding NGOs and international organizations out of the country. So his fears of an externally imposed "color revolution" are lessened now, as can be seen from his restrained reaction to the events in Osh. So he may think he can absorb a little more criticism and not be weakened by it.
On the other hand, the NDN has become enormously important to the U.S. effort in Afghanistan. So the U.S. may not want to risk it. We'll see...
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.