Top U.S. defence official plans visit to Uzbekistan

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - U.S. Admiral William Fallon plans to visit Uzbekistan soon, he said on Tuesday, in what would be the first high-level attempt to mend ties since relations broke off in 2005.

The United States condemned Uzbekistan, once a U.S. ally in its war on terror, when troops fired on a protest in the town of Andizhan in 2005. Uzbekistan in return evicted U.S. troops from a key military airbase used as a hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

Fallon, head of the U.S. military Central Command, said he planned to visit the Central Asian nation but did not say when.

"I would like to pay a future visit to Tashkent," he told reporters during a visit to Tajikistan, another Central Asian nation bordering Afghanistan.

The U.S. embassy in Uzbekistan confirmed that a visit was planned but did not disclose the date.

Fallon was tight-lipped on the agenda but said he had no plans to discuss the airbase issue.

"But in any event a visit there would not involve any discussions on the base from my initiative," Fallon said.

"That's not something that we have on our agenda," he said, adding he would travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan first.

Uzbekistan's ties with the West suffered a blow in 2005 when troops fired on protesters in Andizhan, killing hundreds, according to witnesses.

The Uzbek government blamed the violence on Islamic rebels and said only security forces and terrorists died at the time.

In another sign of more active diplomatic contacts, Pierre Morel, EU Special Representative for Central Asia, met Uzbek President Islam Karimov in Tashkent last week.

(Reporting by Roman Kozhevnikov; writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Richard Balmforth)