Recent events in the aftermath of the May Andijan uprising (WAR Report) in Uzbekistan have not been well publicized but are no less shocking in nature. It is clear now that Uzbekistan is reverting to the Soviet-style of a dictatorship where the regime in power has the ability to stem free speech and political dissension under the guise of state security. President Islam Karimov?s regime has been accused of using torture, abusing human rights, and quelling freedom of speech. However, he seemed to be able to get away with these policies by cleverly using the threat of Islamic extremism as a cover for his suppressive policies. Despite a growing unease from the outside world about his regime?s activities, concerns in the Global War on Terrorism seem to overshadow these concerns. He had granted rights for a US military base in Uzbekistan to conduct activities into Afghanistan . There was also concern of the domino effect of Islamic extremism spreading to Uzbekistan, as there were hotbeds springing up regionally. Karimov used a similar justification as the ?Reds under the Beds? mentality to root out Islamic extremists.

Initially, it seemed that this strategy was palatable because of fears of the spread of Islamic extremism. But Karimov?s suppression of religious freedoms may be driving people into the arms of extremists. Still, there is no real evidence that Uzbekistan is in the throws of a fundamentalist takeover, and now Karimov?s policies have become rather untenable to the rest of the world. Although he disputes that government forces killed many of the demonstrators in Andijan and that it was the armed demonstrators who were mostly killed by troops and who were trying to stag a coup, this seems to be the incident that showed the true face of the Karimov regime. Relations have since deteriorated with the rest of the world.

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