Clinton Pushes Afghan Border Security, Trade in Central Asia

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Afghanistans neighbors to halt the flow of militants and drugs across their borders and to support regional trade and an Afghan peace process to end a conflict that is tying up 100,000 U.S. forces.

Clinton urged Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Uzbek President Islam Karimov yesterday to ensure that insurgents from Afghanistan and Pakistan dont establish sanctuaries in their countries, according to a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity since the talks were private.

Instead of Afghanistan being the crossroads for terrorism and insurgency, she said yesterday in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, we want Afghanistan to be at the crossroads of economic opportunities going north and south and east and west, which is why its so critical to more fully integrate the economies of the countries in this region in South and Central Asia.

Clintons visit to Uzbekistan and Ta! jikistan this weekend also is a chance to bolster relations with two nations along a northern supply route used for about half of all non-lethal provisions for American troops in Afghanistan.

Strained Relations

While the overland supply route from Pakistan to Afghanistan is cheaper, the Pentagon is boosting traffic through the rail, air and truck routes of what is referred to as the Northern Distribution Network as an alternative at a time of strained relations between the Obama administration and the government in Islamabad.

On an earlier stop in Islamabad on Oct. 20 and 21, Clinton, along with Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged Pakistan to move against extremists who are attacking U.S. forces in Afghanistan or risk dwindling support from the U.S. and further instability at home.

In Kabul on Oct. 20, Clinton stood alongside President Hamid Karzai and warned that Pakistan will pay a very big price if it fails to crack down on militants staging cross- border attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Insurgent Sanctuaries

The U.S. has sought closer ties with Uzbekistan over the past decade to win support for the war in Afghanistan and to press for a crackdown on Uzbek militants linked to al-Qaeda. Uzbekistan hosted a U.S. airbase that was a supply route to Afghanistan when the war began, then shut down the base in 2005 after the Bush administration condemned Karimovs attacks on protesters that year that rights groups said claimed hundreds of lives.

Clinton met with Karimov yesterday and expressed appreciation for Uzbekistans support for the supply route for U.S. troops and for building a rail line to connect northern Afghanistan to its Central Asian neighbors.

Last month, President Barack Obama spoke with Karimov about possibly expanding the northern supply route for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Congress is reviewing a law that restricts military aid to Uzbekistan because of it! s poor h uman rights record.

U.S. Overflights

Tajikistan allows overflights for U.S. aircraft supplying the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan. The Tajik government has also granted permission for ground transit routes that is an alternative to land routes to Afghanistan that cross volatile areas of Pakistan from the south.

Clinton said she was visiting Uzbek leader Karimov, who has wielded autocratic power for 22 years, because if you have no contact, you will have no influence, and other countries will fill that vacuum who do not care about human rights.

Clinton called it a balancing act to engage with authoritarian governments while pressing them to respect human rights.

In Clintons talks with Karimov, she urged him to respect political and religious freedom and end forced labor in the cotton industry. He assured her he wanted to make progress on liberalization and democracy to leave a legacy for his children and grandchildren, a State Department official who participated in the meeting told reporters traveling with Clinton.

Clinton also raised U.S. concerns about religious and media freedom in Tajikistan.

We encouraged the Tajik government to take concrete steps toward greater civil and religious freedom, she said at a press conference after meeting with Rahmon and Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi.

Religious Expression

Restrictions on religious expression, such as Tajik rules against Muslims wearing veils or beards, could build up discontent, she said.

We dont want to do anything to breed extremism, she said, adding that she urged the Tajik leaders to rethink any restrictions going forward, because we think they could increase sympathy for extremist views.

Speaking at a gathering of Tajik civic leaders, women and youth, Clinton said Afghanistans neighbors have suffered economically from regional instability caused by the war. She promoted the concept of a New Silk Road linking Central Asian nations as a way to boost economies and living standar! ds throu ghout the region.

Clinton urged both the Tajik and Uzbek leaders to support transit connections to promote regional trade in raw materials, energy and agricultural products as part of the vision for economic integration. The Tajik and Uzbek leaders have poor relations and few links between their countries.

The New Silk Road holds the potential to help spur growth, create jobs, invigorate the private sector, and integrate the nations into the south and Central Asia economies, Clinton said.

The original Silk Road was more than 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) of trade routes crossing Asia and into southern Europe and northern Africa. Based on Chinas silk industry, the commerce it enabled also helped the growth of civilizations from Egypt to Rome.