AP: Uzbek Official Welcomes U.S. Forces

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan - Uzbekistan will allow the United States to keep military forces here as long as needed for operations in Afghanistan, and would consider a permanent U.S. outpost if Washington wanted one, the Uzbek foreign minister said in an interview Saturday.

Speaking before Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visits Tuesday, Sadyk Safayev also told The Associated Press that Uzbekistan is improving its much-criticized human rights record. He said two people convicted in recent high-profile cases likely would receive amnesty soon.

Rumsfeld's visit will be his third here in two years, meeting with Uzbek President Islam Karimov before heading to neighboring Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

This former Soviet republic went from a largely forgotten backwater to a prominent place in the war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. A U.S. base in the southern town of Khanabad became a key staging point for American operations in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of U.S. troops remain stationed there, and the two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2002.

While troops continue operations in Afghanistan, "we have an obligation as a member of the anti-terrorist coalition to allow U.S. military forces to use the military infrastructure in Uzbekistan," Safayev said.

Previously, Karimov had ruled out a long-term U.S. military presence, but Safayev said the government will make a decision after the Pentagon completes its assessment of U.S. military deployments.

Rumsfeld's visit will also focus on nonproliferation, including American help in cleaning up a Soviet biological weapons lab once used to produce anthrax. So far, Washington has pledged $6 million for cleanup projects, but Safayev called for more cooperation.

Such nonproliferation work and other cooperation has been hindered by Uzbekistan's poor human rights record.

Uzbekistan has not improved that record enough to meet requirements for funding under a U.S. nuclear disarmament program. That forced President Bush to grant a waiver in the interests of national security in December.

The strategic partnership agreement also requires progress on human rights for the Uzbek government to receive aid. The next evaluation, due in April, is expected to be a close call.

In a report after a 2002 visit, United Nations envoy Theo van Boven found that torture was systematic in Uzbek prisons. Safayev said Uzbekistan was making improvements, and invited van Boven "to visit anytime."

Also, Safayev hinted Saturday that pardons would be granted in two cases that have attracted widespread international criticism.

Earlier this month, an Uzbek court imprisoned a 62-year-old mother of a prisoner who was allegedly tortured to death. Fatima Mukadirova was convicted of anti-constitutional activity and possessing banned leaflets, but her family and activists claim the case was motivated by her efforts to draw attention to her son.

Safayev rejected the claim and called Mukadirova an "active" member of the banned extremist Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Still, he said he expected an appeals court to grant her a pardon Tuesday because of her age.

Also, Safayev suggested that independent journalist Ruslan Sharipov, serving four years in prison on convictions for homosexuality and having sex with minors, could be freed. Human rights groups and Western diplomats have said the case against Sharipov was motivated by his critical articles about the government.

"It might happen that (Sharipov) would be amnestied," Safayev said. "Personally I am against that ... but somehow the international community thinks that I'm wrong."