UZBEK SECURITY CONCERNS.

In an address inaugurating Uzbekistan’s first military academy, President Islam Karimov said that national independence had made it possible for Uzbekistan to train its military officers on its own territory, Interfax reported September 4. Karimov warned that that academy graduates would need a high level of professional training to serve effectively in such a conflict-prone region. Tashkent will host an international conference on regional security next week, which it wants institutionalized, as an annual forum for conflict prevention and resolution under the aegis of the UN, OSCE, and the Islamic Conference.

Uzbekistan’s leadership is known to be worried about the chronic conflicts in the neighboring countries Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Ethnic Uzbek populations in both of those countries are directly involved in those conflicts.

Uzbekistan Reaching Westward.