The United States has left Uzbekistan off a list of states it considers serious violators of religious freedom despite appeals by human rights groups to include the estranged US military ally on the annual list.
Bush administration officials said the State Department had decided to leave the list of worst offenders unchanged when it publishes its report on Tuesday, which opens the named states up to possible sanctions.
Vietnam, Myanmar, China, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Eritrea will again be designated "countries of particular concern," the officials said.
Faced with strong congressional pressure, the State Department kept Vietnam on the list despite reaching a deal with Hanoi this year over how the communist state would improve religious rights.
The State Department ignored a recommendation from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a Congress-funded, bipartisan agency, which asked that Uzbekistan be included because, it said, its record was deteriorating.
Uzbekistan, a former Soviet state, provided important help for the US forces operating in neighbouring Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taleban, allowing them to use an air base to fly in men and equipment.
But after Washington criticised President Islam Karimov for using force to quash a revolt in the Andizhan region in May, which erupted in part because of mistreatment of a group of Muslims, Karimov gave US troops six months to dismantle its facilities at the base and to leave.