OceanDrive
22-05-2005, 18:03
A GLANCE at the map confirms the strategic importance of Uzbekistan, not just in regional terms but also as it is viewed from Washington.
To the south and southwest are Afghanistan and Iran, a fact which inspired President Islam Karimov to push himself into contention as a useful ally in President Bush’s war on terror.
The US operates an air base with 1000 ground troops at Khanabad outside the Uzbek capital Tashkent. The former Soviet facility is used for operations in Afghanistan, and to date the US has supplied the country with some $800 million in military and humanitarian aid.
More to the point, Uzbekistan has a key role to play in supporting Washington’s wider interests. Khanabad is part of the ring of air force bases, or “lily pads” as defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls them, which are used to project US authority over the surrounding countries and keep a close watch on the oil and gas supply lines running through the Caucasus and old Soviet central Asian republics.
The most important of these is the Baku to Ceyhan pipeline, which runs from Azerbaijan through Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgia on to the Black Sea port of Ceyhan.
Small wonder then that the Bush administration has been so loath to criticise Karimov, apart from conceding that the US will be limiting operations from Khanabad during the present period of local unrest.
To re-use a well-worn US diplomatic cliché: Karimov may be a son-of-a-bitch, but at least he is our son-of-a-bitch.
As Craig Murray, formerly Britain’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, put it last week: “That strategic interest explains the recent signature of the US-Afghan strategic partnership agreement, as well as Bush’s strong support for Karimov.”
Murray, of course, is no longer part of the equation, having been sacked for, as he puts it, “voicing what is still the official British line on human rights”.
For some time now – at least since the 2001 terror attacks – US diplomats have been talking about a new “great game” in the Central Asian region and the Caucasus. The reference is to the 19th-century rivalry between Russia and Britain over the approaches to India, the jewel in the crown of Britain’s imperial interests, but today’s great game is all about oil and gas and the US is determined that it will be the main player.
The spoils are certainly worth the effort and help to explain Washington’s willingness to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses in the region. According to the US Department of Energy, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are capable of producing up to 130 billion barrels of oil, and the Caspian Sea is reputed to sit on the world’s largest untapped fossil fuel reserves.
To protect those interests Bush seems remarkably willing to tolerate a regime which has become a byword for ruthless authoritarianism. In Karimov’s Uzbekistan torture and murder are commonplace.
To the south and southwest are Afghanistan and Iran, a fact which inspired President Islam Karimov to push himself into contention as a useful ally in President Bush’s war on terror.
The US operates an air base with 1000 ground troops at Khanabad outside the Uzbek capital Tashkent. The former Soviet facility is used for operations in Afghanistan, and to date the US has supplied the country with some $800 million in military and humanitarian aid.
More to the point, Uzbekistan has a key role to play in supporting Washington’s wider interests. Khanabad is part of the ring of air force bases, or “lily pads” as defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld calls them, which are used to project US authority over the surrounding countries and keep a close watch on the oil and gas supply lines running through the Caucasus and old Soviet central Asian republics.
The most important of these is the Baku to Ceyhan pipeline, which runs from Azerbaijan through Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgia on to the Black Sea port of Ceyhan.
Small wonder then that the Bush administration has been so loath to criticise Karimov, apart from conceding that the US will be limiting operations from Khanabad during the present period of local unrest.
To re-use a well-worn US diplomatic cliché: Karimov may be a son-of-a-bitch, but at least he is our son-of-a-bitch.
As Craig Murray, formerly Britain’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, put it last week: “That strategic interest explains the recent signature of the US-Afghan strategic partnership agreement, as well as Bush’s strong support for Karimov.”
Murray, of course, is no longer part of the equation, having been sacked for, as he puts it, “voicing what is still the official British line on human rights”.
For some time now – at least since the 2001 terror attacks – US diplomats have been talking about a new “great game” in the Central Asian region and the Caucasus. The reference is to the 19th-century rivalry between Russia and Britain over the approaches to India, the jewel in the crown of Britain’s imperial interests, but today’s great game is all about oil and gas and the US is determined that it will be the main player.
The spoils are certainly worth the effort and help to explain Washington’s willingness to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses in the region. According to the US Department of Energy, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are capable of producing up to 130 billion barrels of oil, and the Caspian Sea is reputed to sit on the world’s largest untapped fossil fuel reserves.
To protect those interests Bush seems remarkably willing to tolerate a regime which has become a byword for ruthless authoritarianism. In Karimov’s Uzbekistan torture and murder are commonplace.