U.S. ally firm despite aid cut

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Uzbekistan pledged yesterday to continue cooperating with the United States in the war on terrorism despite a Bush administration decision to cut economic aid in response to human rights abuses in the Central Asian nation.

"It will not damage the U.S.-Uzbek relationship. It's a temporary problem that we are well aware of," an Uzbek official said after the State Department's decision Tuesday to block up to $18 million in U.S. aid this year.

"We are still united with the United States in the war against terrorism and we will continue with our strategic partnership," said the official, a spokesman at the Uzbek Embassy in Washington who asked not to be named.

In announcing the aid cutoff Tuesday evening, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Uzbekistan has made some progress over the past year in human rights.

But he cautioned: "We are, however, disappointed by lack of progress on democratic reform and restrictions put on U.S. assistance partners on the ground."

U.S. law requires a State Department certification of human rights compliance before foreign aid can be disbursed.

About 1,000 American forces are stationed at an air base in Uzbekistan, which the former Soviet republic opened to the United States after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The State Department decision came amid incidents of prison torture and Uzbek police misconduct reported by groups such as Human Rights Watch in New York and the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

"I have seen no evidence of improvement of behavior of police handling people in custody," said Rachel Denber, a Human Rights Watch spokesman. "And we see no evidence that the Uzbek government is serious about holding law-enforcement personnel accountable."

S. Frederick Starr, an authority on the region and chairman of the Central-Asia Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School for Advanced International Studies in Washington, said the U.S. move sends the wrong message at the wrong time.

"This is a shortsighted, poorly informed and self-defeating decision that contradicts the view of some of the best experts in the State Department itself and of independent experts as well," he said.

"The decertification is a body blow to many known reformers in the Uzbek government, and it hands the game to the worst troglodytes in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and police," said Mr. Starr.

On June 1, the United States had agreed to provide technical assistance and training to Uzbekistan's police to help the government to meet international standards in the treatment of prisoners.

Those funds are frozen now but may be restored through consultations with Congress, said State Department spokesman Margo Squires.

The State Department decision comes 31/2 months after a spate of suicide bombings and shootouts with police in Uzbekistan that left 47 persons dead, including 34 Muslim terrorists.

The suicide bombers appeared to target the police at checkpoints and gathering points in the capital, Tashkent.

Some $37 million in U.S. aid to nongovernmental organizations in Uzbekistan will not be affected, the State Department said.