US Secretary of State skirts human rights in Central Asia

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan, Nov 1 — US Secretary of State John Kerry met Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov today, in a rare high-level US encounter with an autocratic ruler often criticised for his human rights record.

The two held talks in the ancient city of Samarkand on the fringes of a diplomatic gathering of Kerry and his five Central Asian counterparts aimed at reassuring them of Washington’s continued engagement in a region seen as exposed to militant Islam.

Most of the five former Soviet republics have poor human rights records, and US officials say Kerry, on his four-day trip, is urging Central Asian leaders to expand basic freedoms. But such issues are not likely to dominate his agenda.

“The United States does support the sovereignty and territorial integrity and independence of each country that’s represented here,” he said at the start of the foreign ministers’ meeting.

That message has taken on greater importance as Washington draws down its forces in Afghanistan, concerns mount about the threat to the region from Islamic State, and Russia, fresh from forays into Ukraine and Syria, reasserts its influence.

It was Kerry’s first meeting as secretary of state with Karimov, who has ruled mostly Muslim Uzbekistan for a quarter of a century.

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/us-secretary-of-state-skirts-human-rights-in-central-asia