Crackdown Muddies U.S.-Uzbek Relations

"I would not be comfortable making a long-term commitment" on use of the air base, said Sununu, urging the Pentagon to consider other options -- such as bases in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, in case the United States decides to or is forced to leave.

Officials said it is highly likely that the United States will continue to suspend funds for military purchases and training for Uzbekistan this year, as it did last year, because the State Department could not certify the country was making substantial progress in human rights.

"Before Andijan it was complicated. After Andijan it's become very, very touchy," said a second senior State Department official, who spoke only anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue. Still, compensation for the airfield would continue, and possibly grow substantially if agreement is reached on long-term use, which could involve building up the base's infrastructure.

For now, the talks between administration and Uzbek officials have not intensified to the level of formal diplomatic negotiations. Officials who describe them said the talks may slow because the Uzbekistan government has limited ties following the unrest. "Uzbekistan is retreating into a hard shell," said another senior State Department official. "Talks will go on for some time." In recent weeks, Uzbekistan has restricted U.S. night and cargo flights in and out of the base, U.S. officials said.

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the administration has expanded military aid, cooperation and arms sales to other nations, including some that have been cited by the State Department for poor human rights records.

Senior State Department and Pentagon officials defend stepped-up military cooperation with such countries as necessary for combating terrorism and as a form of engagement that gives the United States the leverage it needs to achieve its goal of fostering democratic change.

Kazakhstan, for example, a vast state stretching from China to the Caspian Sea, grants the United States military airfield access and overflight rights, and is being eyed by the Pentagon for joint military training.

Last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exercised a waiver to allow continued military aid to Kazakhstan on national security grounds despite what the State Department acknowledged were "numerous steps backward" on human rights, State Department spokeswoman Julie M. Reside said.

She said U.S. military aid "enhances democracy" and so Washington will stay "fully engaged" despite what she outlined as Kazakhstan's many recent regressions -- shutting down newspapers and opposition parties and considering laws that would "paralyze" U.S.-funded nongovernmental groups.

Overall, U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF), which provides grants for the purchase of U.S. defense equipment, services and training, has grown by a third since 2001 -- from $3.5 billion to $4.6 billion in 2004, according to State Department figures. Similarly, the United States substantially boosted the training of foreign militaries, with International Military Education and Training (IMET) funds increasing from $57 million in 2001 to more than $90 million in 2004.

While officials say the bulk of FMF grants continue to go to Israel and Egypt, many countries that began receiving such aid anew or for the first time starting in 2001, including Uzbekistan and Pakistan, previously were barred from such military aid because of human rights abuses, nuclear testing, or other problems, according to a report critical of the U.S. military transfers released this week by the World Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in New York that focuses on arms control.

Critics in Congress and arms-control advocates say the military aid and cooperation are bolstering regimes that oppress citizens and undercutting President Bush's January inaugural pledge to "support democratic movements . . . with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

The administration pays "little more than lip service when it comes to countries where abuses by the security forces are routine," said Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate subcommittee that oversees U.S. military aid. "Our laws that condition assistance to countries like Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Nepal are not always applied as they should be," said Leahy.

But others argue that the United States has a greater chance to influence those countries by building military relationships. In the 1990s, the United States limited military cooperation by imposing "symbolic sanctions with dozens of countries," said Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr., who oversaw military assistance programs as assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs from 2001 until earlier this year.

"In the 1990s," Bloomfield said, "you were basically building an electric fence around the United States, and that did not work. We need to engage and engage heavily."