The Hill News

Due to the deteriorating conditions in Pakistan, the Obama Administration has placed a lot of emphasis over the past few years on strengthening the Northern Distribution Network (NDN) as an alternative overland supply route to reach troops in Afghanistan.  The NDN runs through Uzbekistan, undeniably one of the most authoritarian countries in the world. 

As the NDN grows in importance, the U.S. has become increasingly consumed by the fear that Uzbek strongman Islom Karimov may at some point end his support for NDN, much as he expelled the United States from a strategic airbase in 2005. 

This fear is making the U.S. both falter on its principles and put its own long-term security interests at risk.  Although the NDN has expanded rapidly over the last two years, the Administration is now seeking  favor with Karimov by pressing Congress to lift sanctions that prevent the U.S. from providing Foreign Military Financing or International Militar! y Education and Training assistance to Uzbekistan.  Congress imposed these sanctions due to the Uzbek government’s failure to address the country’s abysmal human rights and democracy record. 

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