Rice to Visit Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan 05.10.2005 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan between Oct. 10 and 13, the State Department said. Rice ``will have discussions on a range of issues related to economic development, security matters and democracy building,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a press briefing yesterday in Washington, according to a transcript on its Web site. Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, along with China and Russia, in July demanded the U.S. give a timetable for withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan and end military operations in the region. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to remove the Taliban regime, which was harboring Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ``The Afghan government has said that it is important to have a continued assistance from the outside as it moves down the pathway to consolidating its gains in -- security gains as well as its gains in promoting democracy,'' McCormack said, in response to a question about July demand. Rice isn't visiting Uzbekistan, where the U.S. was recently evicted from an air base after it criticized the government for the shooting of unarmed civilians during demonstrations in May. Assistant Secretary Dan Fried visited recently to press the government to allow an independent inquiry into the deaths of more than 500 people. ``We have made our grave concerns clearly known to the Uzbek government both in public and in visits, and most recently with the visit of Assistant Secretary Fried to Uzbekistan, about the failure to allow in an international investigation to determine what happened at Andijan,'' McCormack said. The European Union imposed sanctions against Uzbekistan because of the suppression of protests, the Associated Press reported on Oct. 3. << | >> |
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