Clinton visits Uzbekistan

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Central Asian nations on Saturday to play a role in securing and rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan, promoting the concept of a "new Silk Road" that would benefit the entire region.

She also pressed authorities in the region about improving their record on human rights.Before arriving in Uzbekistan, Clinton told an audience in Tajikistan that Afghanistan's reintegration into the regional economy would be critical to its recovery from war, as well as for better conditions in surrounding countries.

Afghanistan has been at "the crossroads for terrorism and insurgency and so much pain and suffering over 30 years," she said. "We want Afghanistan to be at the crossroads of economic opportunities going north and south and east and west, which is why it's so critical to more fully integrate the autonomies of the countries in this region in South and Central Asia.

"Clinton says the "new Silk Road" will increase regional trade and commerce."We hope it will give rise to a network of thriving economic relationships around the region," she said.

But, Clinton added, countries would have to remove or ease trade restrictions and reform commercial laws for the scheme to succeed.On human rights, Clinton told a town hall meeting in Dushanbe that she would raise the issue with the leaders of both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.In Tajikistan, she said she spoke to President Emomali Rakhmonov about her concerns over restrictions on press and religious freedoms.

In particular, she cited attempts to register certain faiths and efforts to discourage younger people from embracing the worship of their choice.Tajikistan, a Muslim nation with a secular government, is keen to prevent its youth from adopting extremist Islamic views.But this kind of strategy, Clinton warned, often backfires.