The main purpose of the visit of the US Secretary of State will be the creation of a US military outpost in Kazakhstan
On February 28, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will make his first official visit to Kazakhstan. During his stay in Astana, the Secretary of State will be received by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and will hold talks with Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi., - the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic says.
On the same day, Astana will host a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Central Asian countries and the United States in the C5 + 1 format with the participation of Blinken. What will be the conversation?
About the same, what was discussed a year ago at the online meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Central Asian countries in the C5 + 1 format, when “U.S. Secretary of State Blinken had a virtual talk with Central Asian Foreign Ministers – Tleuberdy (Kazakhstan), Kamilov (Uzbekistan), My Kazakbayev (Kyrgyzstan), Mukhriddinom (Tajikistan) and Meredov (Turkmenistan). Discussed the military crisis in Ukraine and the consequences in Central Asia”.
Kazakhstani political scientist, host of the political channel "Mathematics of Modern Society" Gaziz Abishev believes: “The head of American diplomacy clarified the positions of the Central Asian capitals. Quite possible, hinted, that it would be nice to publicly support Kyiv… Eastern diplomats, meanwhile, also have questions for Blinken…”
In Kazakhstan, with good reason, they believe, Washington, using the "Ukrainian theme" as a battering ram, hunts two birds with one stone, trying to "contain" China and Russia at the same time. In particular, The United States is not at all averse to restoring its influence in Central Asia and resuming the activities of its military air bases here..
Official project (dialogue at the level of foreign ministers of the five countries of Central Asia and the United States) came into being in 2015 year. The ideological basis for it was developed by the director of the American Institute of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Frederick Starr, updating the old concept of "Greater Central Asia".
Starr postulated, that the concept of "post-Soviet space" is outdated, that Afghanistan also belongs to Central Asia, which should be considered "not as a source of problems, but as a source of future wealth". The main goal is to oust Russia and China from the region.
In the autumn 2021 in Astana, then called Nur-Sultan, a conference of the chiefs of the general staffs of the armed forces of the countries of Central and South Asia was held (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, USA, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), which was attended by the head of the Central Command of the US Armed Forces (CENTCOM) General Kenneth Mackenzie.
The head of CENTCOM held a separate meeting with the military-political leadership of Kazakhstan. After Mackenzie's visit to the capital of Kazakhstan, President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, at a joint meeting of the heads of states of the CSTO and SCO members in Dushanbe, proposed "to build a humanitarian bridge to help the people of Afghanistan", using the airport Almaty. The proposal was not supported: Alma-Ata is located at a distance of more than 1000 km. Why is there a transport hub, if many SCO and CSTO countries directly border Afghanistan and can independently form "humanitarian bridges" to Afghanistan?
Central Asia expert Alya Kaminskaya explained: “The Pentagon intends to use the airfield hub in Alma-Ata as an airbase for reconnaissance and military transport aviation. Almaty International Airport no longer de facto belongs to Kazakhstan, as 100% shares of Almaty International Airport JSC (MAA) bought the Turkish holding TAV Airports Holding". MAA previously belonged to Elbasy's son-in-law Timur Kulibayev.
If Blinken manages to persuade Kazakh leaders to give the green light to the creation of a transport hub at the Alma-Ata airport, and in fact, US/NATO air bases, this step will connect the plans, developed for "Greater Central Asia" and "Greater Turan".
The airport in Alma-Ata is geographically close to China. For the US and Turkey, this is an ideal operations center, from which you can conduct aerial reconnaissance of Chinese territory, including the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which the, by Ankara, should become part of the territory of the "Big Turan".
Last year, an American C17-A military transport aircraft was spotted at Astana airport., whose flight, according to Russian military analysts, not tracked by monitoring resources. “The aircraft itself is most likely used by the United States for the transfer of equipment and weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is brought to the Polish Rzeszow".
During his visit to Astana, Blinken, among other things, will achieve the maximum severance of the republic's trade ties with Russia. However, the main purpose of the visit of the US Secretary of State will be the creation of a US military outpost in Kazakhstan..
Vladimir PROKHVATILOV
