Foreign Relations of The United States - South and Central Asia

Today the relationship between the two countries are based on what is described by American diplomats as the "three Ds", meaning Democracy, Development and Denial of space for terrorism. The United States is closely working with Bangladesh in combating Islamic extremism and terrorism and is providing hundreds of millions of dollars every year in economic assistance.

The U.S. has offered to resettle 60,000 of the 107,000 alleged Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin now living in seven U.N. refugee camps in southeastern Nepal.

The U.S. Embassy, USAID, and the Peace Corps are located in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. The United States and Turkmenistan continue to disagree about the country's path toward democratic and economic reform. The United States has publicly advocated industrial privatization, market liberalization, and fiscal reform, as well as legal and regulatory reforms to open up the economy to foreign trade and investment, as the best way to achieve prosperity and true independence and sovereignty.

Relations improved slightly in the latter half of 2007, but the U.S. continues to call for Uzbekistan to meet all of its commitments under the March 2002 Declaration of Strategic Partnership between the two countries. The declaration covers not only security and economic relations but political reform, economic reform, and human rights. Uzbekistan has Central Asia's largest population and is vital to U.S., regional, and international efforts to promote stability and security.