Brighter futures

Foreign relations

Foreign languages have a natural “soft power” element to them, and former president Islam Karimov tried to mitigate this issue. Under his rule, Uzbekistan remained isolated from foreign powers trying to influence domestic policies and relations. English language learning centers were sparse in the capital and non-existent in the regions.

However, Russia was always in the background, as it considered the Central Asian states still within its sphere of influence. As a result, Russian schools and Russian-language centers were present throughout the country. In the early 2000s, as the United States began to play a more significant role in the region due to the war in Afghanistan, more Uzbeks began to learn English. Although, in 2005, the relationship between the U.S. and Uzbekistan reached a low point, due to the Uzbek state sanctioned violence in Andijan. During this period, there was a resurgence of bilateral relations between Moscow and Tashkent, and the Russian language grew in importance within the country.