KABUL (BNA) US Undersecretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu’s visit to Central Asia has had slight results.
The US diplomat starts his trip to Central Asia on 24 May 2022 and visited Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. the delegation, led by Donald Lu, included representatives of the Pentagon and the US National Security Council.
Russian media had said at the beginning of the US delegation’s visit that the US Deputy Secretary of State would focus on expanding relations, as well as discussing US secret goals in the region.
The trip came as Russia entered the war with Ukraine, one of the former Soviet republics.
According to experts, during the trip, Donald Lu tried to focus on the United States and its subsequent assistance to the former Soviet republics. During his five-day visit to Central Asia, he tried to promise that Sanctions against Russia will not harm them.
But the State Department’s talks show that Central Asian countries did not pay much attention to the main goals of Donald Lu’s visit, as they try to maintain a cautious relationship with Moscow and, as in the past, remain Russia’s strategic friends. Given the adventurous actions of the United States in the region, Central Asian countries no longer trust the United States and are skeptical of American promises.
In their discussions with Donald Lu, the countries of Central Asia, instead of strategic cooperation in the security and political sectors, addressed other issues that were undoubtedly unpleasant for this American diplomat.
At the end of Donald Lu’s visit to Tashkent, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said, “During the US diplomat’s meeting with his Uzbek counterpart Vladimir Imamovich Norov, he continued to work in the C 5 + 1 format to achieve tangible results in the fields of infrastructure, energy, transportation, and environmental protection.” Life and the fight against climate change have been discussed, that is, the significant message sought by the US Deputy Secretary of State has not been discussed.
“Issues such as minimizing the negative impact of international sanctions on the country’s economy, as well as the need to intensify aid to strengthen border security, were discussed during the visit,” the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said of the US delegation’s visit.
The US embassy in Dushanbe said on Monday that Lu’s visit to Tajikistan had deliberated security and economic issues in Dushanbe, but the US embassy in Dushanbe did not specify which Tajik diplomat he met with and what the outcome was?
The results of the Deputy Foreign Minister’s visit to Kazakhstan have been less covered by the media, it has been reported.
Kazakhstan is keen to keep its minimum level of cooperation with its key partners, China, Russia, the United States, European countries, and Central Asia, at a certain level, to maintain a balanced relationship.
According to experts in Central Asia, the United States sent a delegation to Central Asia to try to convey the idea of a “red line” about Russia to those countries.
A Kazakhstan Strategic Studies said given Russia’s proximity and the growth of technology in China, Central Asian countries prefer not to engage in US adventurous discussions in the region like Ukraine, but to maintain a balanced relationship with Moscow has more and better prices for them.
Turkmenistan Another republic of the former Soviet Union did not invite and receive Donald Lu at all.
According to political experts, the American diplomat’s trip to Central Asian countries has been fruitless and has not been able to make the idea of their cooperation with the United States a reality in the future.
After leaving Afghanistan, the United States tried hard to establish a base in one of the Central Asian countries to monitor the situation in Afghanistan but has been greatly rejected by those central Asian countries.
W/A
