THE muted response of the United States to the death toll in Uzbekistan demonstrates how not all former Soviet republics are equal in the eyes of the White House.

President Bush spent last week championing the democratic freedoms secured in the Baltic states and Georgia and pushing for further reforms on Russia’s doorstep — but the rhetoric tails off when the subject of human rights abuses in Uzbekistan crops up.

Scott McClellan, Mr Bush’s spokesman, declined to take sides when asked about Uzbek troops opening fire on unarmed civilians. “The people of Uzbekistan want to see a more representative and democratic government, but that should come through peaceful means, not through violence.”

The State Department was equally unwilling to speak against the iron-fisted regime of President Karimov. Richard Boucher, a State Department spokesman, said: “We believe that everywhere people have the right to express their grievances, but that grievances should be pursued through a peaceful process.”

The tone is designed to avoid conflict with Mr Karimov and reflects one of the compromises inevitable when the War on Terror became Mr Bush’s top priority after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Uzbekistan opened its door in 2001 to a vast US military base without which the assault on Afghanistan would have been much more complicated.

In return for millions of dollars of US aid, Mr Karimov has allowed the base to stay, giving the US a permanent military foothold in Central Asia. There is also evidence that the US has allowed Mr Karimov’s feared security services to do its dirty work, flying stubborn high-level detainees to Uzbekistan to be tortured. The US is also interested in Uzbek oil and gas reserves.

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