U.S. Secretary of State in first meeting with autocratic Uzbek leader
US Secretary of State John Kerry met Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov on Sunday, in a rare high-level US encounter with an autocratic ruler often criticised for his human rights record.
The two held talks in the ancient city of Samarkand on the fringes of a diplomatic gathering of Kerry and his five Central Asian counterparts aimed at reassuring them of Washington's continued engagement in a region seen as exposed to militant Islam.
Most of the five former Soviet republics have poor human rights records, and US officials say Kerry, on his four-day trip, is urging Central Asian leaders to expand basic freedoms. But such issues are not likely to dominate his agenda.
