Uzbekistan Moves Closer to U.S.

The United States of America and Uzbekistan signed an agreement of military collaboration.

It is possible that the American air base Chanabad, which was closed in 2005, will be reopened. The document was signed by the Commander of the United States Central Command, General David Petraeus, who was recently in Tashkent, and the Minister of Defense of Uzbekistan, General Kabul Berdiyev. Petraeus has been received by the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, and according to official information, they discussed “perspectives of Uzbek-American relations.” In the opinion of the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the discussions are a reaction to the planned opening of a military base in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbekistan is slowly moving away from Russia. Recently it refused to sign an agreement regarding the formation of Collective Forces of Operational Reaction within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and now threatens to withdraw from the organization altogether. Maybe that is why the Americans forgot about the sharp criticism directed at the Uzbek authorities after their brutal crackdown on the opposition in the city of Andijan in 2005. That is the reason the Uzbeks made the U.S. leave the base Chanabad. Kommersant claims that American soldiers are already stationed at the airport in Navoy, in the central part of the country, and American equipment is being carried to Afghanistan from there.