Senate votes to delay payment to Uzbekistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate voted on Wednesday to
delay for one year a $23 million payment to Uzbekistan for the
use of an air base, saying the United States should not pay a
corrupt, repressive government that has ousted U.S. soldiers.

The Senate approved the measure by a voice vote as part of
a $440 billion defense spending bill, blocking the Pentagon’s
intention to pay for the use of the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base,
called K-2, for U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

“Paying our bills is important, but more important is
America standing up for itself, avoiding the misimpression that
we overlook massacres and avoiding cash transfers to the
treasury of a dictator just months after he permanently evicts
American soldiers from his country,” said Republican Sen. John
McCain of Arizona.

Uzbekistan in July gave the United States 180 days to leave
the Soviet-era air base after American criticism of the Uzbek
government’s violent suppression of demonstrators in the town
of Andizhan in May.

Uzbekistan allowed U.S. forces to use the base shortly
after the September 11, 2001, attacks on America by al Qaeda,
which had been harbored by Afghanistan’s now-deposed Taliban
rulers.

The $23 million payment to Uzbekistan would cover the use
of the base from January 2003 through March this year, the
Pentagon has said.

McCain said Uzbek President Islam Karimov “has terminated
counterterrorism cooperation with the United States,” has
rejected all calls for in inquiry into his government’s
suppression of the demonstration at Andizhan, and has “launched
a campaign of anti-American propaganda.”

Karimov’s government has taken “actions so alarming that
one would think this body would be considering sanctions, not
how to transfer millions of taxpayers dollars to his
government,” McCain said.