WASHINGTON — In its decade-long slog to secure Afghanistan, the United States has juggled contradictory foreign policies in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the fragile Central Asian states with key supporting roles in the war. There's the policy of engaging the two post-Soviet states for their own sake, promoting good governance, human rights, and business ties — the usual grab bag of U.S. diplomacy. Then there's the policy of using them as logistical hubs in the Afghanistan war.
Unfortunately, the two policies have often worked at cross purposes, diminishing America's long-term influence in the region and at times hurting its ability to conduct the war. And, as the U.S. pours more troops and money into Afghanistan, military expediency is once again trumping other policy goals in Central Asia.
In some ways, that is understandable: the U.S. has a war to wage on a tight, self-imposed deadline. Fuzzy, feel-good projects to foster human rights and good governance in an obscure region next-door must wait.