Uzbek President Islam Karimov visited Brussels on Jan. 24 to meet with several top EU and NATO officials. Uzbekistan is an important country to NATO, namely because of its strategic location on the northern border of Afghanistan. Uzbekistan is a crucial part of the Northern Distribution Network, a supplemental transit route for non-lethal goods into Afghanistan, which is a more stable route than the attack-prone southern supply chain in Pakistan. Therefore strengthening ties to Uzbekistan — and making sure the country remains a cooperative transit state for the Afghan war effort — is a high priority for NATO.
