Uzbekistan Funding Safe

The new American Ambassador to Uzbekistan has assured Uzbek leaders that financial assistance to the country will not be reduced, despite their terrible human rights record. This brings us back to the old debate about supporting dictators when it seems to be in our national security interest. Despite administration rhetoric, this policy really hasn't changed. Uzbekistan supported the Iraq invasion and the conflict against the Taliban/al-Qaeda. Therefore, we are supporting Uzbekistan's ruthless dictator Islam Karimov. Beware of moral issues and future blowback. An optimist might say that if Afghanistan becomes stable, however, we'd be in a better position if we needed to confront Uzbekistan down the line, as we would then have a nice wholesome democratic prospective ally in the region.