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ReutersU.S. and Uzbekistan Discuss More Supply RoutesBy REUTERS
Published: September 29, 2011
President Obama and Uzbekistan’s president, Islam Karimov, discussed expanding use of the Central Asian country as a route to supply troops in Afghanistan, a United States official said Thursday, amid growing concern about the viability of Pakistan as a transit route. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also met with her Uzbek counterpart on Thursday, and Congress is considering legislative changes that would allow more military aid to Uzbekistan despite its poor human rights record. Mr. Obama’s outreach came as the United States and Pakistan are locked in a diplomatic crisis over accusations linking Pakistan’s chief intelligence agency to militant attacks on Americans in Afghanistan. Rising tension between Washington and Islamabad has raised questions about Pakistan’s role as a major supply route for American forces fighting in Afghanistan.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/world/asia/united-states-and-uzbekistan-discuss-more-supply-routes.html?_r=1&ref=world
US looks away as new ally tortures IslamistsUzbekistan's president steps up repression of opponents
Nick Paton Walsh in Namangan
The Guardian, Sunday 25 May 2003 21.05 EDT
Abdulkhalil was arrested in the fields of Uzbekistan's Ferghana valley in August last year. The 28-year-old farmer was sentenced to 16 years in prison for "trying to overthrow the constitutional structures".
Last week his father saw him for the first time since that day on a stretcher in a prison hospital. His head was battered and his tongue was so swollen that he could only say that he had "been kept in water for a long time".
Abdulkhalil was a victim of Uzbekistan's security service, the SNB. His detention and torture were part of a crackdown on Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), an Islamist group.
Independent human rights groups estimate that there are more than 600 politically motivated arrests a year in Uzbekistan, and 6,500 political prisoners, some tortured to death. According to a forensic report commissioned by the British embassy, in August two prisoners were even boiled to death.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/may/26/nickpatonwalsh