Some info I found:
Uzbekistan is situated in central Asia between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers, the Aral Sea, and the slopes of the Tien Shan Mountains. It is bounded by Kazakhstan in the north and northwest, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the east and southeast, Turkmenistan in the southwest, and Afghanistan in the south. The republic also includes the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic, with its capital, Nukus (1992 est. pop., 182,000). The country is about one-tenth larger in area than the state of California

In June 1990, Uzbekistan became the first central Asian republic to declare that its own laws had sovereignty over those of the central Soviet government. Uzbekistan became fully independent and joined with ten other former Soviet republics on Dec. 21, 1991, in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Vozrozhdeniye, an island in the Aral Sea, was a secret test site for biological weapons during the Soviet era. In 1988, the Soviets attempted to bury the evidence on the island, a frightening legacy that Uzbekistan inherited upon independence. U.S. scientists have confirmed that the island contains live anthrax and other deadly poisons.

President Karimov, a former Communist Party boss, has effectively suppressed opposition parties. Human rights abuses have grown at an alarming rate over the years, and torture is used as a routine investigation technique.

In 1999, the country battled against militant Islamic groups bent on the overthrow of the secular government. Fighting against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) continued for the next few years. In 2000, Russia offered to help Uzbekistan “liquidate” the Islamic extremists. Several terrorist bombings took place in March 2004, killing 40. A trial in Aug. 2004 sentenced 15 accused Islamic militants to prison, but human rights groups questioned the trial's fairness.

In 2001, Uzbekistan provided the United States and the UK with a base to fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in neighboring Afghanistan, and became the United States' main regional partner in the war on terror. As a strategic partner, the U.S. was initially reluctant to take a firm stand regarding Uzbekistan's dismal human rights record. The repressive country's 6,000 political and religious prisoners are subject to horrific torture and appalling conditions. But in July 2004, the U.S. State Department announced it would cut $18 million in military and economic aid to Uzbekistan because it had failed to improve its human rights record.