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Clinton warns Tajikistan on stoking radical Islam
DUSHANBE: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
...who really, really doesn't resemble John Foster Dulles in any way whatsoever...
warned Tajikistan on Saturday that efforts to crack down on religious freedom might backfire and increase sympathy for radical views that could threaten stability in the Central Asian country.
Yeah, sure, Hilde, damned if you do, damned if you don't...
Clinton, who met Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon on a trip to thank two Central Asian states for their cooperation in the US-led war in neighboring Afghanistan, said freedom of religious expression was tied to the region’s future security.

“I disagree with restrictions on religious freedom and shared those concerns,” Clinton told a news conference after meeting Rakhmon.

She said efforts to regulate religion “could push legitimate religious expression underground, and that could build up a lot of unrest and discontent.”
We're talking about Islamicists: they seethe about everything...
Following visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Clinton was on the first leg of a Central Asian tour. She is due to visit Uzbekistan and meet President Islam Karimov later on Saturday.

Both Karimov and Rakhmon have moved to limit religious freedom in their own countries, both of which remain under authoritarian rule two decades after they emerged from the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Tajikistan, a mainly Muslim country of 7.5 million people, introduced laws in August to ban youths from praying in mosques, churches and other religious sites, a move that was criticized by religious leaders in the former Soviet state.

Rakhmon, in power since 1992, has said tough measures are needed to stop the spread of religious fundamentalism in an impoverished country that shares a porous 1,340-km (840-mile) border with Afghanistan.

“You have to look at the consequences,” Clinton said. “We would hope there would be a rethinking of any restrictions going forward, because we think it will increase sympathy for extremist views which would in turn threaten the stability and security of the country.”

Rakhmon’s Moscow-backed secular government clashed with the Islamist opposition during a 1992-97 civil war, in which tens of thousands were killed.
So perhaps he has a little practical experience...
The president has ignored previous requests from the West to respect freedom of conscience. He has ordered students home from religious schools abroad and clamped down on a growing trend for Islamic dress.
Posted by: Steve White 2011-10-23
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=332148