SAMARKAND: US Secretary of State John Kerry brought his Central Asia diplomatic caravan to the Silk Road citadel of Samarkand on Sunday and was welcomed by a notorious strongman.

President Islam Karimov, the 77-year-old autocrat who has ruled Uzbekistan for a quarter-century since independence, hosted Kerry at his sprawling palace complex.

Kerry was keen to discuss closer US economic ties with Central Asia and cooperation in the battle against the Daesh group, which recruits in the region.

But his willingness to court such a hardline figure will attract criticism from human rights groups.

The US envoy praised the beauty of Samarkand’s monuments, comparing the ancient center of Islamic learning favorably to the devastation wrought on Syrian sites by Daesh militants.

“We need to talk about the challenges that all of us face regarding security,” Kerry added, noting that Central Asia borders on war-torn Afghanistan.

The two did not take questions. After the brief remarks, they met behind closed doors.

According to the US State Department’s 2014 human rights report, Uzbekistan’s authorities are guilty of “torture... denial of due process and fair trial.”

The post-Soviet political system suffers from “an inability to change the government through elections.”

In more colourful language, a leaked 2010 US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks branded Karimov’s realm “a nightmarish world of rampant corruption, organised crime, forced labour in the cotton fields and torture.”