Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 20 / Trend, V. Zhavoronkova/
The tensions between Pakistan and the United States makes Washington seek allies in the Central Asian Region, U.S. expert on Central Asia Bruce Pannier believes.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the course of her Central Asian tour plans to visit Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on Oct. 21-22. The situation in Afghanistan and stability in the region are among major topics of Clinton's discussions here.
Expert believes that "clearly something important is bringing Secretary of State Clinton to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan".
"She was just in Uzbekistan at the Dec. 2010 and U.S. secretaries of state don't make frequent visits to Central Asia in general, let alone to Uzbekistan twice in less than one year," Pannier wrote in an e-mail to Trend.
One of Clinton's visit's reasons is the fact that U.S. is concerned about the Pakistani land route into Afghanistan because the relationship between Pakistan and the United States is strained, he noted.
"That's nothing new and was the reason NATO invited Uzbek President Islam Karimov to its summit in April 2008," Pannier said. "But I think this time the problem appears since the strain in relationship has been growing worse since the killing of Osama bin Laden."
The expert thinks it could be that Pakistan is tiring of fighting public opinion at home about a U.S. presence in the country at the same time that U.S. officials are urging Pakistan to do more to fight terrorists/militants in the areas along the Afghan border.
He said it is possible someone on the Afghan side of the border is considering a "punitive raid" across into Pakistan to neutralize militant groups that cross into Afghanistan and attack Afghan government of foreign forces.
"If such a thing happens, Pakistan would probably close the land route into Afghanistan entirely," expert noted.
Pannier believes for U.S. asking Uzbekistan and Tajikistan about allowing more supplies for troops in Afghanistan seems logical and both governments would likely agree to such a proposal.
He said Clinton will likely brief the Uzbek and Tajik presidents about U.S. plans to withdraw the bulk of its troops from Afghanistan by 2014, how that will work and what the U.S. can do for these countries after Afghan government troops take over in Afghanistan, matters like strengthening border security and continued support for the Afghan government.
What the visit to Uzbekistan shows is that the U.S. wants to hand over security responsibility to the Afghan government on schedule, wants routes into Afghanistan to supply troops for near certain large offensives to clear out as many militants as possible before 2014, and wants to ensure the supply of Afghan forces after the draw down, the expert added.
"For Uzbekistan Clinton's visit is a public reminder, mainly to Russia but also China, that Tashkent has other, powerful friends in the world," Pannier said.