Karimov voiced doubts over the success of a centralised approach to rebuilding Afghanistan, in his view too fragmented a country, according to a member of the French delegation in Tashkent.

Alliot-Marie meanwhile re-asserted France's wish to strengthen bilateral ties with Uzbekisatan, in line with a commitment made by President Jacques Chirac at a NATO summit in November.

The French minister was in Uzbekistan for a one-day visit, during which she also held talks with her Uzbek counterpart Kadyr Gulamov.

Cooperation between the two countries dropped off following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when they failed to reach agreement over the establishment of a French airbase on Uzbek soil as part of the US-led campaign in Afghanistan.

While the United States used Uzbekistan as a rear-base during the war in Afghanistan, France based its aircraft in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Karimov won warm praise from Washington earlier this year for supporting the US-led campaign in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq.

But critics of Uzbekistan's human rights record charge that an intolerance of Islamic belief may have actually helped foster militancy along Uzbekistan's eastern border, where an armed Islamic insurgency was crushed in 2001 by the US-led intervention in Afghanistan.

WAR.WIRE