Tashkent Maneuvers between Moscow, Washington, and Beyond

Uzbekistan’s departure from the Collective Security Treaty Organization was the latest move in that country’s longstanding efforts to enhance its security, sovereignty, and freedom of action. To view Tashkent as simply tacking erratically back and forth between Moscow and Washington would be to underestimate the nuances of Uzbek diplomacy. Changes in Uzbekistan’s foreign policy orientation generally followed changes in the perceived calculation of costs and benefits from the perspective of Tashkent. Even when tilting toward one great power, Uzbekistan has taken care never to burn its bridges entirely with the others.