Turning a Blind Eye.(U.S. relations with Central Asia)(Brief Article)

You'd think that U.S. military success in Afghanistan would bring stability to the rest of Central Asia. After all, the five former Soviet republics all have a common fear of Islamic extremism, and Osama bin Laden's armed allies in the region have made repeated attempts to foment guerrilla war in Central Asia. And since 9-11, those threats have subsided. The United States has rewarded leaders of the five republics for their support of the war--handing out money, political favors and tacit promises to look the other way on human-rights violations.

Turning a blind eye is now causing problems. Emboldened by promises of uncritical U.S. support, the leaders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and especially Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have unleashed a new wave of oppression. In March five Kyrgyz demonstrators were shot dead by police while protesting the arrest and prosecution of a government critic. More recently 80 human-rights activists were arrested for protesting the sentencing of a former rival of President Askar Akayev--as well as a government decision to cede a big chunk of Kyrgyz land to China. Meanwhile Kyrgyzstan's underground Islamist movement has been using the presence of 1,500 U.S. troops as a selling point in its antigovernment propaganda.

In Uzbekistan, which has also been a base for U.S. troops since last fall, authorities have made a show of allowing a few carefully chosen critics to operate freely. But outside monitors, ...