A COCKTAIL of rural poverty, Islamic extremism and brutal, autocratic government makes Uzbekistan the most potentially explosive country in a volatile, but strategically important, region.

President Karimov runs a ruthless police state, but the collapse of his regime would throw Central Asia’s most populous country into chaos, possibly a civil war and would destablise the entire area.

It could herald the arrival of an Islamic government in a country that is 88 per cent Muslim and jeopardise an American airbase that is being used for counter-terrorist operations in Afghanistan. Washington controversially hailed Uzbekistan as an ally in its War on Terror.

Mr Karimov was the country’s last Communist Party boss of the Soviet era, but he maintained power over the 26 million Uzbeks after they won independence in 1991.

He still enforces a state monopoly on cotton, the country’s main export, which keeps millions of farmers in poverty. His family controls most Uzbek private enterprise.

The average wage is just $25 (£13.50) a month and living standards are dropping, although the country has large oil and gas reserves and is one of the world’s ten leading gold-producers.

He also maintains Soviet-style controls over religion and politics, allowing only state-sponsored Islam and banning all opposition groups. Human rights bodies say that there are at least 6,000 religious and political prisoners in Uzbekistan.

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