U.S., Uzbekistan reach deal on supply route

U.S., Uzbekistan reach deal on supply route    The United States struck a deal with the government of Uzbekistan to allow non-military equipment to transit the country en route to Afghanistan, international press outlets reported over the weekend.
   The deal went through despite reports that U.S. officials were concerned about alleged human rights violations in the central Asian nation. In 2005, the Uzbeki government closed a U.S. airbase in Tashkent after U.S. criticism of a crackdown on unrest in the country.
   Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, told the news agency AFP that the agreement was aimed solely at providing a means to ship cargo to Afghanistan.
   “This really does not mean anything for the human rights situation there (in Uzbekistan),” he said. 'We are still concerned by various aspects of the human rights situation and we continue to have a broad dialogue with the government there. So this is not really a political statement about the human rights nor is it an attempt to re-establish a base. It is a commercial arrangement to ship cargo.”
   Meanwhile, Iranian media reported last week that two logistics companies in Germany had approached Iran about similarly shipping non-military equipment through its territory to Afghanistan.
   'The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that two unnamed private companies in Germany are looking to Iran as an alternative route for shipments of non-military goods to NATO forces in Afghanistan,' UPI reported.
   The moves come after insurgents in eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan have severely hampered supply routes between those two countries. The bulk of U.S. supplies still transit that increasingly dangerous region, but U.S. and European military officials have looked into alternative routes into Afghanistan.