With Kyrgyzstan taking another step toward shuttering the Manas air base, there's increasing speculation that the Obama administration is considering resuming military cooperation with Uzbekistan, which expelled the U.S. in 2005 in the midst of a diplomatic feud over the country's human rights record. Christopher Flavelle writes in Slate:
The shifting landscape around Afghanistan is closing off options for
Obama, who must now begin to think about unsavory compromises if he
wants to make progress in the Afghan campaign. [...]
President
George W. Bush, though largely indifferent to public opinion, could
afford to do the honorable thing in 2005 by walking away from an ugly
regime in Uzbekistan, when Afghanistan was looking better and the base
in Kyrgyzstan was still available. Obama, whose inauguration speech
promised that the ideals of rule of law and rights of man "still light
the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake," may
have to let his image suffer because he lacks the options of his
predecessor.
Obama may still be spared this unpleasant choice. Analysts tell Eurasianet the Kyrgyz move is likely a ploy to get Washington to pony up more cash for the base, though some recent statements from the U.S. military indicate that Kyrgyzstan may have overplayed its hand.
Hopefully the Uzbekistan option is being floated by the Obamans as a bargaining chip with Kyrgyzstan and won't actually come to pass. Kyrgyzstan's not exactly Canada but Uzbekistan is in a class of its own as a human rights abuser and Fred Kaplan's 2005 arguments for why the U.S. should steer well clear of the place still hold.
Given all his encouraging human rights rhetoric, it would be nice if Obama could just minimize his dealings with post-Soviet dictatorships. Besides, his campaign manager and his secretary of state's husband have them well covered.
VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP/Getty Images
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