US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on Saturday that efforts to crack down on religious freedom might backfire.
She said this could lead to increased sympathy for radical views in Central Asia, a region the US sees as key to the future stability of Afghanistan.
Clinton met Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon and Uzbek President Islam Karimov to thank the two Central Asian states for their cooperation in the US-led war in neighboring Afghanistan.
Photo: Reuters
She stressed to both that freedom of religious expression was tied to the region’s future security, US officials said.
“I disagree with restrictions on religious freedom and shared those concerns,” Clinton told a news conference after meeting Rakhmon in Dushanbe on the last full day of her latest overseas trip.
She said efforts to regulate religion “could push legitimate religious expression underground and that could build up a lot of unrest and discontent.”
Clinton’s visit to the two former Soviet republics came after a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan that was focused on US efforts to find a political solution to the decade-long Afghan conflict.
She also promoted greater regional economic integration under a plan US officials have dubbed “the New Silk Road.”
Karimov and Rakhmon have moved to limit religious freedom in their countries, which remain under authoritarian rule two decades after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Tajikistan, a mainly Muslim country of 7.5 million people, introduced laws in August to ban youths from praying in mosques, churches and other religious sites, a move that was criticized by religious leaders.
Rakhmon, in power since 1992, has said tough measures are needed to stop the spread of religious fundamentalism in an impoverished country that shares a porous 1,340km border with Afghanistan.
“You have to look at the consequences,” Clinton said in Tajikistan. “We would hope there would be a rethinking of any restrictions going forward, because we think it will increase sympathy for extremist views which would in turn threaten the stability and security of the country.”
Rakhmon’s Moscow-backed secular government clashed with the Islamist opposition during a 1992 to 1997 civil war, in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
The president has ignored previous requests from the West to respect freedom of conscience. He has ordered students home from religious schools abroad and clamped down on a growing trend for Islamic dress.
US officials said Clinton also raised the issue with Karimov — widely seen as one of the most repressive leaders in the region — as one of a number of human rights concerns that also include press freedom, human trafficking and political reforms.
Karimov, who has said he intends to implement reforms, repeated these pledges to Clinton, one US official said.
“He said that he wants to leave a legacy for both his kids and his grandchildren,” the official said. “The secretary welcomed that and said that would help to build a long-term foundation for Uzbekistan, but also for our cooperation.”
US officials said Clinton’s Central Asian trip, her second to the region in less than 12 months, was aimed in a large part at thanking Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for their assistance with the Afghan conflict.
They said she also wanted to broaden a relationship that has given the US an important “back door” into Afghanistan and an alternative supply route that could prove vital if US ties with its main ally in the region, Pakistan, unravel.
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are part of what Washington calls the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a supply line for US-led forces fighting the Taliban that also stretches through Russia, Latvia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
The NDN is increasingly important as US ties with Pakistan come under strain over Washington’s charges that elements of the Pakistani government have links to Islamist militants blamed for attacks on US forces in Afghanistan.
The US is aiming to reduce the proportion of its surface cargo that it brings through Pakistan to only a quarter by increasing its supplies through the northern route; in July it was still well over half.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese