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Diplomat (12 November 2024)

Eric Rudenshiold

The five Central Asian countries will not be at the top of President-elect Donald Trump’s new foreign policy agenda, but they won’t be at the bottom either. The first Trump administration was well aware of the region and saw significant promise for U.S. engagement with Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Hosting the presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for rare official visits to the White House, the former Trump administration also adopted the 2019-2025 U.S. National Security Strategy for Central Asia – a whole-of-government strategy that has resulted in the region becoming a regular component of U.S. policy, no longer an afterthought. (While a State Department summary is available, the strategy itself remains classified). The Trump-era strategy was adopted unchanged by the Biden administration and remains in effect today and ready to be updated. 

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