WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken is heading to Central Asia hoping that greater United States engagement will reassure former Soviet republics rattled by the Ukraine war.
Days after the anniversary of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the top United States envoy will hold talks on Tuesday in Kazakhstan and later in Uzbekistan and meet jointly with foreign ministers of all the five ex-Soviet Central Asian states in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital.
Donald Lu, the top United States diplomat for South and Central Asia, has said the US was realistic that the five countries were not going to end their ties with Russia. “We have something to offer in terms of engagement economically, but we also have something to offer in terms of the values that we bring to the table,” Lu told reporters.
US efforts
After a year of travelling across the world to rally support for Ukraine, Antony Blinken‘s mission may be his most subtle yet. For the US, “the sky is the limit in Central Asia right now,” said Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, an expert on the region at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the University of Pittsburgh.
“So I think there’s a real opportunity for the United States to be creative, to engage with the leaders of these countries and sort of meet them where they are,” he said — AFP/APP
