U.S. values Uzbekistan but urges rights reform
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 Uzbek soldiers opened fire on anti-government protesters. ITN's Bill Neely reports. (May 14)
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(CNN) -- The United States has had good relations with the government of Uzbekistan in recent years but at the same time is bluntly critical of the country's political system and the human rights situation there.
"We've been very clear about the human rights situation there, been very factual about it, but unfortunately the facts are not pretty," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Boucher made the comments at the Friday briefing, where he was asked about the violence between government troops and protesters in Andijan, an eastern city in Uzbekistan.
The violence -- which has led to many casualties -- has spurred the flight of people toward and into neighboring Kyrgyzstan.
The president of Uzbekistan has blamed violence in Andijan on the Islamic radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir and said its goal was to establish an Islamic state and to destroy the current constitutional system.
Islam Karimov, speaking at a news conference in the capital Tashkent on Saturday, said he never gave an order to shoot as the unrest unfolded. He said 10 police were killed but on the criminal side "many many more were killed and hundreds wounded."
Human rights monitors said hundreds of people were killed by Uzbek government soldiers in the wake of Friday's violent anti-government protest in Andijan, Russia's Interfax news agency has reported. (Full story)
U.S. air base
The State Department details its relationship and offers its analysis of Uzbekistan's government in a "background note" last updated in February.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Uzbekistan -- which borders Afghanistan -- approved the "U.S. Central Command's request for access to a vital military air base in southern Uzbekistan."
"U.S.-Uzbek relations have flourished in recent years and were given an additional boost by the March 2002 meeting between President Bush and President (Islam) Karimov in Washington, D.C., where the two countries signed the Declaration of Strategic Partnership," the background note said.
The United States believes Uzbekistan "plays a pivotal role in the region" and "has developed a broad relationship covering political, human rights, military, nonproliferation, economic, trade, assistance, and related issues."
"Uzbekistan has been a strong partner of the United States on foreign policy and security issues ranging from Iraq to Cuba, and nuclear proliferation to narcotics trafficking" and "is a strong supporter of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq and of the global war against terror."
'Stable, moderate force'
The note says the United States "values Uzbekistan as a stable, moderate force in a turbulent region. The United States urges greater reform to promote long-term stability and prosperity. Registration of independent political parties and human rights non-governmental organizations would be an important step."
Also, the assessment of human rights in Uzbekistan is grim, and the United States wants those conditions to improve.
"Uzbekistan is not a democracy and does not have a free press. Several prominent opponents of the government have fled, and others have been arrested. The government severely represses those it suspects of Islamic extremism, particularly those it suspects of membership in the banned Party of Islamic Liberation (Hizb ut-Tahrir)," according to the note.
The note said "some 5,300 to 5,800 suspected extremists are incarcerated," but it is a decline from previous years.
"Prison conditions remain very poor, particularly for those convicted of extremist activities, and a number of such prisoners are believed to have died over the past several years from prison disease and abuse.
"The police force and the intelligence service use torture as a routine investigation technique. No independent political parties have been registered, although they were for the first time able to conduct grass-roots activities and to convene organizing congresses."
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
