After cutting off US access to a key military base, Uzbekistan has also quietly terminated cooperation with Washington on counter-terrorism, the Washington Post reported Friday.

The Uzbek government has made a broader strategic decision to move away from the 2002 agreement with the US administration signed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and is cooling relations with Europe as well, the newspaper quoted unidentified US officials as saying.

The move follows tough criticism from Washington and the European Union over Uzbekistan's crackdown on protests in May in the province of Andijan, where human rights and opposition groups say hundreds died.

The Uzbekistan government argued that terrorists initiated the violence.

In July, Tashkent banned US troops and warplanes from the Karshi-Khanabad air base.

In 2001, the United States used the opportunity of anti-terrorism war

to deploy troops in the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan to back up operations in neighboring Afghanistan.

In July this year, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry presented a note to the US embassy in Uzbekistan, demanding US troops leave the country within 180 days.

Also in July, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes Uzbekistan, issued a statement calling for a deadline for a US military withdrawal from its members.

"We do want to cooperate, but it has to be across the board, not just on counter-terrorism and security but also to support democratic and market reforms," Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said on Thursday in a telephone interview from Kazakhstan.

Source: Xinhua