Uzbekistan Must Not Render It's Hard-Won Freedoms to Assassins
A recent assassination attempt in Uzbekistan has vaulted the small Central Asian nation into the headlines, putting in motion a widening series of events that may set back the former Soviet republic’s hard-won democratic reforms, threaten regional stability, and bring the matter to the attention of President-elect Donald Trump.
On Oct. 26, 2023 of last year, the day before the country’s parliamentary elections, gunmen fired several shots into a vehicle carrying Komil Allamjonov, Uzbekistan’s former presidential press secretary, as he returned to his home outside the capital city of Tashkent.
Allamjonov and his driver were unharmed, but the attack launched a global dragnet, drawing in nearly 10 suspects.
It forced Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to fire his state security leadership and has drawn unwanted attention from regional players.
Now, a trial has started in Uzbekistan’s military court that is not open to the public.
Who is Allamjonov, and why was he targeted for assassination?
Allamjonov, 40, was one of President Mirziyoyev’s chief lieutenants spearheading the country’s massive and ongoing reforms.
These are designed to transform a top-down, repressive government into a democratic, open, Western-style democracy, following the country’s independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.
Mirziyoyev freed political prisoners and ended decades of child labor.
He led a 2023 referendum that reformed the country’s Soviet-era constitution to give citizens individual rights and freedoms for the first time.
In his role in Mirziyoyev’s administration, Allamjonov unblocked several foreign websites, including the BBC’s Uzbek service, Human Rights Watch and Eurasianet, allowing Uzbeks access for the first time.
He addressed his nation’s low global ranking in Reporters Without Borders’ annual press freedom index, posting on Facebook that "Uzbek journalists have begun covering such pressing topics as corruption and forced labor, but self-censorship is still seen in the media sphere."
However, these reforms have powerful opponents in Uzbekistan's government and society, entrenched from the country's early post-Soviet days. They are, in a sense, Uzbekistan’s deep state.
Immediately after the attack on Allamjonov, Yahoo Finance suggested that the act was reflective of the internal struggle between the reformers and the hardliners who still occupy positions of power under the bureaucracy that President Mirziyoyev has been working to replace.
Uzbekistan observers believe the assassination attempt was meant to send a message from the deep state, backed by foreign agitators, warning against continued reforms, designed to have a chilling effect on the reform movement.
Citing documents it obtained, The Diplomat described a complicated plot by unscrupulous Uzbek businessmen designed to discredit Allamjonov and seek to get him slapped with U.S. sanctions.
Many of the suspects are from outside Uzbekistan.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was the first to link the attack to Chechnya, suggesting an outside plot to destabilize Uzbekistan’s government. This is where Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov — sanctioned by the U.S. for human rights violations — makes an unexpected entrance. Two key suspects — Bislan Rasaev and Shamil Temirhanov, both Russians but with strong Chechen ties — were subsequently identified by Uzbekistan officials.
This prompted Kadyrov to take to Telegram to proclaim his friendship of Mirziyoyev and threaten Allamjonov.
Kadyrov said Allamjonov and others were trying to bring down Mirziyoyev’s administration and he denied Chechen involvement in the attack, even bragging that if he had been behind it, Allamjonov would be dead.
If the attack on Allamjonov was meant to quietly bully reformers into silence and slow change in Uzbekistan, it has done the opposite.
Less than a month later, President Mirziyoyev dismissed Abdusalom Azizov, who had headed up the nation’s state security apparatus, along with a number of other high-ranking government officials, including the head of the internal security unit of the State Security Service, for obstructing the investigation.
It has put Allamjonov, little-known outside of Uzbekistan, in news coverage around the world. It has sparked a series of events that threaten regional instability. And it has created a potential threat to U.S. national security, bringing the issue to the doorstep of the White House.
Why?
Because while some other governments in Central Asia have remained totalitarian, and even some European countries are moving away from liberal democracy, Uzbekistan remains committed to creating a free and transparent government.
But as a young democracy, this is a critical moment for Uzbekistan.
Without U.S. support, anti-reform elements in Uzbekistan could become emboldened, and the country could backslide and be pulled into Putin's expansionist plans.
A democratic, stable, independent Uzbekistan is in America's national interest.
President-elect Trump must pay attention to Uzbekistan.
Aside from being a strong partner to the U.S., cooperating to fight terrorism, narcotics and trafficking, Uzbekistan’s critical minerals are vital to America's national security.
The U.S. should offer assistance to Uzbekistan's investigation into the attack on Allamjonov and call on authorities to conduct a public trial.
This will let the anti-reform elements know the U.S. is watching closely.
This will help ensure a thorough, legitimate, and transparent investigation.
Also, the U.S. should reaffirm its support of President Miriziyoyev's reforms to dissuade outside agitators from interfering in the country's future.
President Trump should consider the first ever visit by a U.S. president to Tashkent this year. This will help counter the increased influence that China, Russia and Iran are actively seeking in Central Asia.
All of these measures will go a long way toward seeing that a brazen assassination attempt does not go unpunished and America’s vital interests are secured.
Duggan Flanakin is a senior policy analyst at the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow who writes on a wide variety of public policy issues.