After criticizing vote, US charts careful course on Bangladesh

Bangladesh faced widespread international criticism over the conduct of recent elections, but the United States looks set for business as usual as it sees strong common interests with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

As the eighth most populous nation in the world, with a moderate Muslim population that largely welcomes cooperation with the West, Bangladesh has a warming relationship with the United States - yet not one so close as to give Washington significant leverage.

Sheikh Hasina's Awami League won an incredible 288 seats in the 300-seat parliament in the December 30 election, with opposition leader Khaleda Zia -- her bitter nemesis for decades - in jail on charges her opponents say are politically motivated while the press faces draconian new restrictions.

The US State Department voiced concern ahead of the election, accusing Bangladesh of foot-dragging on letting in electoral observers and urging greater efforts to ensure a free vote.

The United States followed up after the election with a letter by President Donald Trump that wished Sheikh Hasina success but asked her to "renew her commitment to protecting human rights, individual freedom of expression and democratic institutions," a US official said.

Sheikh Hasina is a sworn enemy of Islamists, mounting a crackdown on the Jamaat-e-Islami party that included hanging five of its leaders over charges related to Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

She has also earned widespread praise in Washington for taking in more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled from neighbouring Myanmar in a brutal campaign the United States has called ethnic cleansing - stopping the crisis from become more regional in dimension.

Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that Bangladesh was effectively becoming a one-party authoritarian state -- but one whose orientation largely suits Washington.

"I think the bottom line is that the US sees Sheikh Hasina as a useful partner. She's very tough on terror and she's presided over a remarkable degree of economic growth," he said.

"I think, in that regard, the US sees her as a supporter and practitioner of stability in Bangladesh in spite of the tradeoff of having a very troubled domestic political situation in Bangladesh."
He said that Bangladesh has been "phenomenally successful in combatting terrorism," calling it "one of the few Muslim countries that is considered relatively terrorism-free."
Humaiun Kobir, the international affairs secretary of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party who met policymakers in Washington ahead of the vote, said the United States should make clear that relations will be limited "unless you show us you are democratizing."