US Secretary of State starts 5-nation tour of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan

Kerry was speaking at a news conference with Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev, and noted that the IS group had recruited fighters from that country. In Tajikistan, another northern neighbor of Afghanistan, Kerry said the U.S.is targeting "drivers of radicalization" and training and equipping border guards to prevent extremists from penetrating the country.

For now, USA officials say the Islamic State group's recruitment in country isn't significantly affecting them; a few recruits are operating in Russian Federation and others are showing up in Syria.

"Secretary Kerry's trip comes at a time when Kyrgyzstan's extremely harsh homophobic bill is on the precipice of becoming law, and presents a key opportunity to demonstrate USA leadership in advancing human rights protections in Central Asia", said Shawn Gaylord of the Washington-based advocacy group.

The trip to all five of Central Asia's ex-Soviet republics was meant to show that the United States intends to stay engaged and wants to deepen economic as well as security ties.

The two held talks in the ancient Uzbek city of Samarkand on the fringes of a diplomatic gathering of his five central Asian counterparts aimed at reassuring them of Washington's continued engagement in a region seen as exposed to militant Islam. The 77-year-old authoritarian Uzbek president has led the country since 1990.

Global human rights bodies list Karimov's government as among the world's most repressive.

According to the US State Department's own 2014 human rights report, Uzbekistan's electoral system is rigged and torture and corruption run rampant.

US Secretary of State starts 5-nation tour of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan

We also talked about the importance of energy policy, particularly electricity, the challenge of working with neighbors, particularly the challenge with Uzbekistan at this moment, and the ongoing need to have energy diversification and provide greater energy supply.

No one else mentioned human rights or democracy, but Kerry said economic projects are "closely related to the quality of governance and the strength of democratic institutions".

USA relations with Kazakhstan are much stronger and broader.

He said the award was given to Askarov is recognition of a lifetime of work on human rights, but the decision had been "misinterpreted as to what it meant". US Secretary of State expressed confidence that close partnership between Kazakhstan and the United States would facilitate the implementation of five major institutional reforms and the Plan of the Nation: 100 Concrete Steps.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry makes an opening statement at the start of a meeting with Tajik P ...

A brief State Department readout from the meeting said issues raised included "respect for human rights and political freedoms".

The fact sheet said the United States has provided more than 30 million dollars since 2002 to support the American University of Central Asia (AUCA).