Antony J. Blinken

Brookings Institute Address on an Enduring Vision for Central Asia

delivered 31 March 2015, Washington, D.C.

Audio mp3 of Address       Audio AR-XE mp3 of Address

Well, good afternoon. And Fiona, thank you very, very much for those very kind words of introduction. I think there are few people in Washington with a better feel for the sometimes Byzantine regional politics of Eurasia and Central Asia, not to mention the sometimes Byzantine policy-making process here in Washington. It’s always great to be with you.

And it’s especially good to be with a great friend and great colleague, Strobe Talbot. I have to say, in the last few months, as I’ve stepped into the shoes that Strobe once filled at the State Department, I have been struck again and again by how your diplomatic leadership and dexterity continues to exert a positive impact on so many of the tough issues we contend with.

And I also have a great debt of thanks to pay to Strobe because back in the Clinton Administration, when I moved from being a speechwriter for the President to actually taking on a policy role as the senior director for Europe at the White House, Strobe took me under his wing and was truly a mentor, and it’s something for which I’ve always been grateful. So it’s a pleasure to be with you.

I’d also like to recognize the many scholars and experts gathered here, as well as the Diplomatic Corps. Through many discussions, roundtables, and papers, you’ve helped us better understand the dynamics of Central Asia as they’ve shifted and evolved through the years. And let me also recognize our extraordinarily dynamic Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal, who’s been leading our efforts in this area.

Fiona said it very, very well, and indeed it was prescient because what I wanted to say at the outset was that you can literally plot the trajectory of the region by some of the remarks given here over the years on Think Tank Row. And indeed, 15 years ago, had I been giving this speech then, I’d be discussing the emergence of new, independent states from the breakup of the Soviet Union. And in fact, that’s exactly what Strobe did when he gave that speech in the ’90s across the street at SAIS, where he sketched a vision of “free societies at peace with themselves and with each other.”

And as Fiona alluded to, if I had been giving this speech just five years ago, it would largely have been about Afghanistan, about maintaining our strategic presence in the region to secure supply routes for our troops and strengthen the capacity of Afghan institutions.

Today, there are those who look at the drawdown of our forces from Afghanistan and see through that a region of declining importance to the United States. Nothing could be further from the truth. Since Strobe gave his speech in the ’90s, the lens through which we view Central Asia may have changed, but our commitment to enduring partnerships that advance our interests and values in the region has not.

And the reason for this is simple: Our security is tied to a stable Central Asia, and at the same time we see a region of enormous potential, a region that could act as an economic bridge from Istanbul to Shanghai and provide opportunities for our own businesses, technologies, and innovations to take root; a region that could offer goods and energy to the booming economies of South and East Asia; and a region that could serve as a stabilizing force for Afghanistan’s transition and an indispensable partner in the fight against narco-trafficking, terrorism, and extremism. To help unleash this dynamic potential, the United States stands committed to investing in the region’s people and its political and economic stability.

So what I want to do today is lay out a little bit of the vision for our policy in Central Asia that’s founded on two distinct ideas: First, that our own security is enhanced by a more stable, secure Central Asia that contributes to global efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism; and second, that stability can best be achieved if the nations of Central Asia are sovereign and independent countries, fully capable of securing their borders, connected with each another and with the emerging economies of Asia, and benefiting from governments that are accountable to their citizens.

The United States wants to broaden and deepen our bilateral relationships with each of the states in Central Asia. At the same time, we do not see these relationships in the region as exclusive, or zero-sum, in any way. The nations of Central Asia need healthy, mutually beneficial relations with all of their neighbors. And it is their right as sovereign nations to develop those relations as they see fit, free from pressure or intimidation. It is their choice — not ours, not anyone else’s.

Our engagement is animated by the vision that at a time of unique challenge and opportunity alike, Central Asia can reassert its historic role as a vital hub of global commerce, ideas, and culture. It can seize on a model for growth and governance that actually delivers for its citizens and connects them to the dividends of progress. It’s a model that countries from Latin America to South Asia have chosen, putting them squarely on the path to long-term strength, stability, and prosperity.

Just over 23 years ago, we were among the first to recognize the independence, the sovereignty, and the territorial integrity of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. And it is this commitment that still underpins our government-to-government and people-to-people engagement from Astana to Ashgabat.

Today, we have three important objectives for our engagement with each of the Central Asian states: strengthening partnerships to advance mutual security; forging closer economic ties; and advancing and advocating for improved governance and human rights. So let me spend a few minutes talking about each one of those pillars.

First, with regard to strengthening our security partnerships, while each Central Asian country has its own distinctive history and will forge its own future, we know that they share a common concern for stability and regional security. Every year, through high-level bilateral consultations with each country, we address these concerns directly and, as need be, pointedly. Just last month, we signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with Kazakhstan -- one of 70 that the United States has around the world -- which provides a solid basis for expanding our law enforcement cooperation while protecting the rights of citizens in both countries.

Kazakhstan has been and continues to be a leader in nonproliferation and global security. I remember very well, and Strobe knows this even better, one of the great successes of the Clinton Administration with some of our European partners was helping to work with successor states of the former Soviet Union that inherited nuclear weapons. And Kazakhstan, along with Belarus and Ukraine, took the very brave and important step of relinquishing the weapons that it inherited when the Soviet Union dissolved. Kazakhstan has also fostered stability in its own region, contributing to Afghanistan’s future by funding the Afghan National Security Forces and police and enabling 1,000 Afghan men and women to study at Kazakhstani universities.

In Tajikistan, we are focusing on improving border security, strengthening the capacity of law enforcement, and countering terrorism along the nation’s long and porous border with Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan’s contributions to our Afghanistan effort, including participation in the Northern Distribution Network, remain important, as does our work together to combat narco-trafficking and defend against transnational threats.

And we also remain grateful for the vital support Kyrgyzstan provided for the effort in Afghanistan. We respect the decision of our sovereign and independent partner to close the transit center. Our relationship has moved forward as we continue to work together to address shared security challenges.

And in Turkmenistan, we’ve helped the government establish modern border control checkpoints with state-of-the-art technology to combat smuggling and to fight human trafficking.

By deepening these security partnerships, we are also investing in a stable foundation for Central Asia to unlock its great economic potential. The images of the old Silk Road -- when Central Asia was truly at the crossroads of civilization -- does not have to be just a memory. Past can become prologue.

Today, Central Asia is not only bursting with resources, but brimming with youthful, entrepreneurial potential. A full half of its population is under the age of 30. And in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, around a third of the population is actually closer in age to 20.

To deliver on the aspirations of this new generation, we want to help Central Asia build a solid basis for prosperity by integrating it into a global, rules-based system. That’s why we’ve been supporting Kazakhstan’s efforts to join Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as members of the World Trade Organization, and we expect this long-sought goal to be realized this year.

Our own nation’s businesses, their talent, and technological leadership can play an essential role in helping the region develop its own culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

And we will continue to build these connections on both sides of the world. The United States recently hosted a delegation from Turkmenistan’s power sector. Kazakhstan will host an investment forum for U.S. companies this summer.

Now, despite these efforts, I think everyone recognizes that Central Asia still has a long way to go in building a more open, cooperative, and connected market that fosters true entrepreneurship and delivers benefits to ordinary people. The region remains one of the least integrated in the world with only about six percent of its total trade occurring within Central Asia. And as a result, its own people are not benefiting from this enormous potential.

That’s why, as part of the New Silk Road initiative, the United States is helping develop the region’s connectivity -- improving trade and transport infrastructure, standardizing customs and border procedures, strengthening the links between energy producers and consumers.

And it’s why we’re helping to build a regional energy market to connect Central Asia’s tremendous supplies of natural gas and hydropower to 1.6 billion energy-hungry consumers in South Asia. Our support for the CASA-1000 electricity line will help bring surplus hydro-electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan -- where over 80 million people lack access to electricity.

It’s notable that Afghanistan is also embracing the vision of Asian connectivity. Some of you may have heard just last week when President Ghani was in Washington -- he addressed a joint session of Congress and extolled the importance of regional energy trade for Afghanistan’s economic viability.

A lot of work is being done on the physical infrastructure to connect these countries; but just as important as that physical infrastructure are the policies that go with it, the soft infrastructure of laws, of regulations, of agreements between and among governments to facilitate the flow of people, of goods, and of financing. And we’re helping in that area, too.

Ultimately, for Central Asia to fully reap the benefits of shared prosperity, it has some choices to make between the political and economic practices of the past that offered limited potential for long-term, diversified growth, and the possibilities of the future -- the surge of innovation and energy that comes from building more open societies at home and joining a dynamic, just, and rules-based global marketplace.

These rules are not designed to assert the authority of one nation over another. They serve to protect and benefit us all. To give businesses the confidence they need to invest -- drawing on skills of young, educated populations, and building a growing market for entrepreneurial talent.

Now, I know that destination may seem distant as we gather here today, but it promises what nothing else can: the opportunity for Central Asians themselves to enjoy in the fruits of their prosperity.

Finally, a critical aspect of our foreign policy is advancing the democratic values that we share with people all over the world, including in Central Asia. These values are at the very core of our engagement with the region -- and essential to the lasting stability that we seek.

Across every bilateral relationship, we continue to advocate forcefully for greater respect for human rights, a stronger voice for civil society, and greater religious freedom.

Progress has been halting, but I believe we are better able to address these difficult issues because we are present and engaged with these governments and their civil society.

We know that governments that are accountable to their citizens can more effectively sustain their own security, defend their own sovereignty, and contribute to regional stability.

Upholding freedom of expression, the rule of law, and political pluralism gives citizens peaceful, legal outlets to raise their grievances, and diminish the chance that they will be drawn to violent extremism.

These same freedoms are also vital to building innovative societies. In the past, when we thought about the wealth of a nation and what constituted that wealth, we would talk about the physical size of the country, its abundance in natural resources, the strength of its military, literally the size of its population.

And all of these things, of course, are still relevant today. But in the 21st century, the true wealth of a nation lies in its human resources and the potential of a country to maximize those resources -- to let them be free, to let them be creative, to let them innovate. Those are the countries that we most want to engage with. That’s what we’re looking for as we seek to forge partnerships. It’s something that President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary Kerry have all spoken to with great passion wherever they go, from Accra to Kyiv to Delhi.

As the President put it, “We are far more likely to invest our energy in those countries that want to work with us, that invest in their people, that embrace a vision of society where everyone can contribute -- men and women, Shia or Sunni, Muslim, Christian, or Jew. Because from Europe to Asia, from Africa to the Americas, nations that have persevered on a democratic path have emerged more prosperous, more peaceful, and more invested in upholding our common security and common humanity.”

So in Central Asia, we will continue to support civil society and its ability to serve communities and speak up for peaceful change without government interference, consistent with the President’s Stand with Civil Society initiative.

We’ll continue to advocate for free media and more open political systems, and urge the release of people who are imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of their political views or religious faith. We will support greater economic transparency and efforts to combat corruption.

As Strobe knows very well, we’ve spoken about these issues for many years in Central Asia. They are arguably even more important as the region seeks our engagement and assistance in its own development and integration.

In this respect, we’re also focused, for example, on helping the Kyrgyz Republic nurture and develop its parliamentary democracy, the only one in the region. Our assistance and our exchange programs emphasize rule-of-law reforms, support a more open civil society, and create new educational opportunities.

One of the things we’re very proud of is having hosted nearly 80 percent of Kyrgyz parliamentarians here in the United States, where they discuss the responsibilities of public service with American officials and representatives of civil society.

Time and again, we have seen the value of building these lifelong relationships -- helping to expand the marketplace of ideas and foster greater democratic ethos. Today, we’re supporting these educational exchange programs and English language programs across Central Asia.

In Kazakhstan, nearly 400,000 children in first grade are starting to learn English, thanks to an impressive effort by the nation’s Minister of Education and Science Aslan Sarinzhipov, to introduce trilingual education in the entire school system. Well, that minister of education happens to be an alumnus of one of our exchange programs, the Edmund Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program.

In Kyrgyzstan, 40 members of parliament recently participated in more than 30 town hall meetings across the country, thanks to the organizational efforts of a young man who himself drew on his experiences as a legislative fellow in the United States, where he observed the 2012 presidential elections.

Buildings these connections between our people not only nurtures shared understanding and values; it strengthens our ability to confront challenges together.

As we gather today, I know a lot of focus is on the talks in Switzerland regarding Iran’s nuclear program, and Secretary Kerry and Wendy Sherman and other colleagues are there as we speak. And I know that no one is watching more closely than the countries of Central Asia.

Iran’s historic and cultural ties to the region are deep and longstanding, and for countries that are increasingly focused on their connectivity to the rest of the world, Iran stands as a potential gateway to Europe as well as a maritime route to Asia.

But the region’s unique complexities don’t stop at its border with Iran. From its position at the heart of Asia, the region looks out to China and its growing economic influence; it supports Afghanistan’s cautiously hopeful transition; and it hedges against Russia’s renewed aggression; and it warily guards against the growing pull of extremist ideology among its youth.

China looms large in the region with its ambitious plans to advance Asian connectivity through overland and maritime routes. It’s committed tens of billions of dollars to building roads and rails to better connect its factories and markets in Asia and Europe. And we support these efforts to connect the region, but we also urge that they advance trade in all directions and adhere to international norms.

We don’t see China’s involvement in Central Asia in zero-sum terms. Its development of infrastructure in Central Asia can be fully complementary to our own efforts. And in particular, we see an important role for China in supporting the transition in Afghanistan and advancing its own integration into the broader Asia region.

On the other hand, Russia’s actions on its periphery, including its violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, threaten the very foundation of international order -- not only in the region, not only in Europe, but beyond and around the world. As Russia and the separatists that it backs continue to destabilize eastern Ukraine, they’re doing more than violating the borders of one country. They are threatening the fundamental principles that we all have a stake in defending in Europe and, indeed, around the world: the principle that the borders and territorial integrity of a democratic state cannot be changed by force; that it is the inherent right of citizens in a democracy to make their own decisions about their country’s future; that linguistic nationalism, something we thought was confined to the dustbin of history, cannot be allowed to be resurrected; and that all members of the international community, especially its leading members, are bound by common rules and should face costs if they don’t live up to the solemn commitments that they make.

And I want to come back briefly to something I mentioned a minute ago, which is the successor states of the Soviet Union giving up the nuclear weapons they inherited when the Soviet Union dissolved. As I noted, besides Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine were the two other countries that inherited these weapons and gave them up. And in the case of Ukraine, it did so in exchange for assurances from three countries that its territorial integrity and sovereignty would be respected. Those three countries were the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia.

What does it say not only to Ukraine but to countries around the world when those solemn assurances can be torn up and totally ignored? What does it say at this very moment when we are seeking to convince Iran to forego nuclear weapons in the future when it considers the commitments that big powers have made in the past and wonders about the enduring nature of those commitments into the future? So there is a lot at stake in Russia’s actions in Ukraine that we need to continue to stand up for.

Now there are obviously costs to the pressure that we’re exerting on Russia for its actions in Ukraine, and we know these costs reverberate around the region. And while the nations of Central Asia understand the dangers posed by Russia better than most, they’re also feeling the impact of Russia’s economic weakness more than most. We understand that anxiety and we’re committed to leveraging our own economic tools to help Central Asia diversify their economies and interlink their markets.

We do not ask any country to choose ties with the U.S. to the exclusion of anyone else. We reject the false choices imposed by anyone else. We fully support the aspirations of Central Asian states to pursue a multi-vector foreign and economic policy.

We know that the threat of violent extremism is yet another growing danger for the region. Earlier this year, the United States hosted the Countering Violent Extremism Summit to kick-start a global conversation on the most effective ways to disrupt and destroy ISIL’s finance and recruitment efforts and the broader challenge of violent extremism. Both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan sent high-level delegations to the summit. Kazakhstan committed to host a regional CVE summit for South and Central Asian countries this summer.

The summit that we held in Washington not only considered the challenge of countering extremism as it exists today, but also preventing it -- reaching the large pool of alienated young men and women susceptible to the siren call of extremism by giving them more economic and political opportunities. It’s a challenge that requires all of us to take stock, to ensure that we’re fostering societies in which all citizens feel that they have a stake.

In this atmosphere of uncertainty, it can be tempting to turn inward, to build high walls, to close borders. But the very geopolitics that give Central Asian states cause for anxiety also incentivize them to embrace a new and different kind of future. Our continued engagement and the long-term security and prosperity of the region depend ultimately on the choices that Central Asian states make today to try to seize this future and live up to the aspirations of their own citizens.

In this journey, our commitment to them and to their citizens is as strong today as it was 23 years ago when the United States was among the very first to recognize their independence. It’s a commitment not only between governments, but between people -- between our universities as they share knowledge, exchange students, and foster a culture of innovation; between our businesses as they create jobs, spur investment, and develop the region’s frontier markets; and between our leaders as they work together to advance essential reforms, to overcome common challenges, to unlock the potential of Central Asia for this generation and generations to come.

Thank very much.

Original Text Source: uz.usembassy.gov

Original Audio and Video Source: DVIDShub.net

Audio Note: AR-XE = American Rhetoric Extreme Enhancement

Video Note: Lighting adjusted and frame interpolated from 29fps to 60fps. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

Page Created: 1/5/25

U.S. Copyright Status: Text = Public domain. Audio  = Property of AmericanRhetoric.com. Video = Public domain (with use subject to these terms).