Hidden hands at work in Andijan revolt ?

In Washington and Tashkent dips and diarists say there is mounting agreement that Pentagon special forces teams helped stir up the Islamist revolt on May 17 in the town of Andijan, in Uzbekistan's fertile, populous and now very volatile Ferghana Valley. U.S. Special Operations forces are said to have made contact with opposition forces in the area during operations Balance Ultra 03 and Balance Ultra 04 joint operations exercises with Uzbek military forces.

This explains the US / UK coalition unwillingness to contemplate a thorough investigation into the Andijan revolt. A monitoring group from China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Russia amongst others has commenced its investigation. But the U.S. has refused to join in saying that any enquiry must include "an international partner"; U.S. will not take part in the
current investigation "as we do not see that as a substitute for an international investigation; we are considering all of our diplomatic options, including at the U.N ... meantime, we're talking to member states of various international organisations to try to generate support for an international investigation ... and we are actively working within the international community to try to generate support."

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour expressed renewed concerns in Geneva on July 12th and reiterated the need for an international commission enquiry to be set up in order to look into what happened in Andijan on May 13. The absence of an independent investigation into the violent events in the Uzbek city that cost the lives of unknown numbers of people has made the job of status determination for Uzbek asylum seekers for UNHCR especially difficult.

It may also explain the precipitate action by Karimov to close the US base ...earlier post.

It may also explain the total silence from the UK Government about the need for an enquiry and also the silence of the Opposition parties.....Dogs that have learnt not to bark.

The Uzbek state controlled press has been saying that Pentagon special operations teams secretly met in Afghanistan with Tohir Yoldashev (who the US claimed to have killed in 2001) and members of his Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group the U.S. State Department lists as terrorist organization allied to "Al Qaeda." This loose amalgam has an interesting track record having in May 2003, been disrupted by Kyrgyzstani security forces when trying to to bomb the US Embassy and a nearby hotel in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. They targeted Uzbeki interests in October 2001 and are said to have planted 5 car bombs in Tashkent in February 1999. IMU Militants also took foreigners hostage in 1999 and 2000, including four US citizens who were “mountain climbing” in August 2000 and four Japanese geologists and eight Kyrgyzstani soldiers in August 1999 .

Of course the “success” in Afghanistan has resulted, as President Mushariff has pointed out, in an export of terrorism , such as the IMU , Uighur militant groups, and Chechen militants who all appear (diplomatic chat) have set up shop in Tajikistan (where most of the country consists of the Pamir mountain ranges) and parts of the Ferghana Valley. The Afghan-Tajik border region, is a mmajor smuggling area and so is always subject to foment, but it has become highly volatile recently . Last Tuesday, a bomb attack in downtown Dushanbe flagged how tenuous the eight-year-old Tajik peace settlement has become.

As well as US air Force personnel and planes, 200 French Air Force personnel and 2 transport aircraft are also based at Dushanbe airport in support of International Security Assistance Force operations in Afghanistan.

Evidently, the U.S.-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan has spilled over to the Central Asian region. The Central Asian region is getting destabilised which no doubt prompted Rummy’s brief excusion to Kyrgistan and Takikistan on the way to give Gen. Casey a good kicking in Baghdad.. (see earlier post)

The meetings between the US / IMU were reported to have occurred before and after the Andijan revolt, The US-IMU meetings in Afghanistan were also referenced in an article in Asia Times by India's former ambassador to Uzbekistan and Turkey, M. K. Bhadrakumar.