U.S. asks Uzbekistan to join multinational coalition against ISAugust 28, 2015 - 09:57 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States on Thursday, Aug 27, asked Uzbekistan to join the multinational coalition it leads against the Islamic State (also known as ISIL, or ISIS), saying Central Asia's most populous state was free to choose how to the fight against the armed group, Al Jazeera America reports. "We have asked Uzbekistan ... to join the coalition," Daniel Rosenblum, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Central Asia, said during a visit to the Uzbek capital. Uzbekistan, a majority Muslim nation with a population of 31 million, has been a strategic NATO partner in post-Soviet Central Asia, assisting a U.S.-led war on the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. The U.S.-led coalition hitting ISIL force has a military component, apart from efforts to stop a flow of financing to ISIL, Rosenblum said. The coalition also gathers information about the movement of people across borders and has five or six other "lines of efforts," Rosenblum said. "Uzbekistan or any other country can choose to contribute to one or more of those elements," he said. Photo: Reuters Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Police try to impede Armenian Church head’s access to war memorial Police tried to stop the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, from visiting a war memorial. Greece says ready to help as Armenia fights flooding consequences Greece is ready to assist Armenia in combatting the consequences of deadly floods in the country’s north. “He will leave”: Protest leader no longer demands meeting with Pashinyan Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan no longer demands a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Lemkin Institute petition seeks release of Armenians in Azerbaijan The Lemkin Institute is deeply concerned about the continued illegal detention of political prisoners from Karabakh in Azerbaijan. |