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Rice takes high road in Tajikistan visit
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-13 20:40
The U.S. top diplomat denied any suggestion that the main U.S. interests in
Central Asia are oil and strategic leverage in the war on terrorism.
"We will press for free and fair elections here just as we press for free and
fair elections everywhere in the world," Rice said.
Nazarbayev faces more than a dozen candidates in a presidential election Dec.
4.
The run-up to the voting has been marred by the detention of opposition
figures, break-ins at political offices and other heavy-handed government
interference, according to Human Rights Watch and similar private organizations.
For his part, Nazarbayev defended the election and what he called a general
trend toward more political openness in his country.
"It is up to you if I meet your definition of dictator,"
he told an American reporter. "We have political parties, we have opposition
that criticizes the authorities. You can get opposition newspapers anywhere you
want."
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