30 July 2010
State’s Blake on U.S. Policy Toward Central Asia
Blake speaks at Carnegie Endowment for Peace event in Washington
U.S. Department of State
Robert O. Blake, Jr.
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
Carnegie Endowment for Peace Event
Washington, DC
July 30, 2010
South and Central Asia: U.S. Policy Towards Central Asia
I want to thank Martha Brill Olcott and Carnegie for the invitation to come here today to talk to you about U.S. policy toward Central Asia. As you know it’s been a busy time out there and I’ve become a frequent flyer to the region. Last week I returned from a trip to Central Asia with Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg that included stops in Tashkent and Bishkek. After the Deputy Secretary’s visit to Bishkek, I also had the opportunity to visit Osh.
I’m pleased to be here for the opportunity to discuss the current situation in Kyrgyzstan, U.S. efforts there, as well as our overall approach toward Central Asia. On Tuesday I testified before the Congressional Helsinki Commission on Kyrgyzstan so some of what I will say about Kyrgyzstan may be familiar to some of you, like Martha, who testified right after me.
Central Asia is a region of significant importance to U.S. national interests. Recognizing the uniqueness of each of the five Central Asian nations and their sovereignty and independence, U.S. policy supports the development of fully sovereign, stable democratic nations, integrated into the world economy and cooperating with one another, the United States, and our partners, to advance regional security and stability. This has been our longstanding policy in the region, but how we pursue it has differed under various Administrations.
Shortly after coming to power the Obama Administration undertook a full review of our approach to Central Asia and decided on five main priorities:
1) Expand cooperation with Central Asian states to assist Coalition efforts in Afghanistan;
2) Increase development and diversification of the region’s energy resources and supply routes;
3) Encourage political liberalization and respect for human rights;
4) Foster competitive market economies and economic reform, and
5) Prevent the emergence of failed states, or in more positive terms, increase the capacities of states to govern effectively.
To pursue these priorities the Administration decided to expand our civilian engagement with these countries and establish consultative mechanisms with each country to regularize our dialogue and channel it into realistic work plans to drive progress on the priorities I outlined above.
Soon after I took up my duties last summer, I accompanied Under Secretary of State Bill Burns on an interagency delegation to the region in what had been up to then the highest civilian U.S. official visit to all of Central Asia in many years. In his meetings Under Secretary Burns proposed the establishment of annual bilateral consultations to be augmented by six month reviews.
Since that visit I have chaired consultations with every country in Central Asia except Kyrgyzstan, whose delegation was on its way to Washington in early April when the historic events there ended their mission. I will not forget Tajik Foreign Minister Zarifi braved Washington’s record snowfall to hold our consultations in February – some of them in my own living room!
Now I think all of you, who know much more about Central Asia than I, recognize that it can sometimes be a challenge to help move our Central Asian friends in the directions we would like. But I think you would all agree that the first step is to create the right atmosphere and form of dialogue. That includes seeking to make progress on tough issues like human rights, but doing so in a dialogue of mutual respect and understanding. I think we have accomplished that.
I have had robust discussions with all my Central Asian partners on all subjects. Nothing is kept off the table. And we are establishing realistic work plans to make progress in the areas both sides agree we must address. We are also making progress to include civil society and the business community in these consultations.
I read a lot of commentary that asserts that this Administration is too focused on the security relationship with these countries and forgets about human rights. That makes for good newscopy or I guess we’d say today blog bites, but it’s wrong. This administration has not shied away from discussing frankly, fully and openly human rights issues or the state of civil society. It is and will remain an essential part of our dialogue equal in importance to our discussion on security issues. My colleague Mike Posner Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor has co-chaired these parts of the discussions and he travelled with me to conduct our consultations with Turkmenistan last month and our review with the Uzbeks in Tashkent.
I also hear the charge that the U.S. was too interested in maintaining the Transit Center at Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan and refused to criticize the Bakiyev regime on its human rights performance. I can assure you that we raised human rights at every meeting with the Bakiyev government that I attended and we had been prepared for a tough discussion with their delegation in April. Indeed the Kyrgyz delegation had agreed to our suggestion for their delegation and ours to meet with U.S. civil society as part of the consultations we had planned.
We also never spurned meeting with the then opposition in Bishkek or in Washington, and we won’t shy away from meeting with the opposition to today’s government in Bishkek or talking with the government about respecting human rights. The Manas Transit Center makes a substantial contribution to the coalition efforts in Afghanistan, but it does not and never will trump our interest in seeing Kyrgyzstan respect the rights of its citizens. The Obama Administration will not compromise our values. But it will seek dialogue and engagement with all our partners.
I also want to state that the United States is not in a competition with any country over influence in Central Asia. I know many talk of the Great Game. Again it makes for good newscopy or blogs, but has little basis in reality. Our goal is to maintain mature bilateral relations with each country in Central Asia based on our foreign policy goals and each country’s specific characteristics and dynamics. We recognize other countries have interests in Central Asia. But we don’t accept any country having exclusive interests.
We maintain it is in the interest of all countries in the region to undertake policies that can produce a more durable stability and more reliable partners for everyone, including the United States, in addressing critical global and regional challenges, from non-proliferation to counter-narcotics to energy security and combating terrorism.
Before I conclude and open up this conversation to your comments and questions, let me say a few words about the upcoming OSCE Summit to be held in Kazakhstan later this year and about the situation in Kyrgyzstan and what the Obama Administration is doing about it.
With regard to the OSCE Summit, I was part of Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg’s delegation to the OSCE Ministerial meeting held earlier this month in Almaty where Ministers discussed holding a summit this year in Astana under Kazakhstan’s current chairmanship. This will be a historic event. It would be the first OSCE summit in 11 years and the first in Central Asia. I hope it will shine light on developments in Central Asia and the role the OSCE has played and can play in promoting its principles throughout the OSCE region.
Kazakhstan has done a credible job as OSCE Chairman in Office, especially I would say in dealing with the situation in Kyrgyzstan, where the OSCE has been at the forefront of efforts to promote peace, democracy and reconciliation. In offering to host this summit, Kazakhstan has agreed to allow full access by NGO’s following the example of the last summit in Istanbul in 1999. This is important not only so Kazakhstan can demonstrate its commitment to upholding the human dimension, but also because 2010 marks the 35th Anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. I can assure you that at the summit the United States will stand up for all OSCE principles, especially with regard to human rights.
On Kyrgyzstan, you know the tragic facts of the recent past. In April, a bloody uprising overthrew President Bakiyev and brought in a provisional government. Clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan in mid-June tested this government. During the violence, over 300 people were killed and around 400,000 were displaced, with approximately 100,000 individuals fleeing temporarily to neighboring Uzbekistan.
The security situation has since generally stabilized, though tensions still remain high in the south. Humanitarian organizations are currently transitioning from emergency relief to recovery, reconstruction, and reconciliation.
While we are encouraged that there has not been a recurrence of violence, President Otunbayeva and the Provisional Government face daunting challenges. Fear and tension remain, especially among ethnic Uzbeks. I was in Osh last week and felt this myself in my conversations with both Uzbeks and Kyrgyz people outside the wreckage of their homes.
Since April I have made several trips and had many conversations with the Provisional Government leadership including most recently when I accompanied Deputy Secretary Steinberg to Bishkek. The United States supports a number of steps that we believe should be taken to help heal the wounds of the past, but also help the citizens of Kyrgyzstan chart a stable and democratic future. We are focusing on:
• Boosting security forces in the south to prevent further violence through the establishment of an OSCE Police Advisory Group;
• Encouraging local Kyrgyzstani law enforcement and judicial institutions to act as reliable and credible community partners to build trust with the people;
• Encouraging investigations into the causes of the violence of June, both to help understand how to prevent fresh outbreaks of violence, but also to ensure accountability for those who were responsible;
• Helping Kyrgyzstan establish a functioning democracy; and
• Helping reconstruct the homes and lives of the victims of the June violence in the south.
Earlier this week at the Kyrgyzstan Donors Conference, a host of international donors, pledged $1.1 billion in response to a World Bank- and Government of Kyrgyzstan-drafted Joint Economic Assessment. The pledges exceeded the needs outlined in the assessment by $100 million. The United States pledged $48.6 million in additional to our already-planned annual assistance. We joined the donors community in speaking with one voice to the government to insist upon a fair plan to provide transitional housing to those who lost their homes, a comprehensive international investigation of recent violence, and strong support of the planned OSCE police advisory group.
Finally, the crisis in Kyrgyzstan has also tested its neighbors, particularly Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. We are working with our partners in the region and with Russia so that there will be no repetition of these tragic events. Uzbekistan played a helpful role in taking in a large number of displaced persons, which contributed significantly to the international relief efforts. Its government quickly and effectively addressed the humanitarian needs of these people, ultimately helping to save lives. We hope that, if needed, Uzbekistan would again be willing to open its borders to provide safe haven.
We appreciate Kazakhstan’s efforts to galvanize the OSCE’s efforts to stabilize the situation in Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan supported the OSCE’s decision to deploy a Police Advisory Group in Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan has expressed its commitment to enhance the OSCE Center in Bishkek and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights’ efforts to assist Kyrgyzstan with the parliamentary elections in October. As a powerful economic neighbor, Kazakhstan has a crucial role to play in continuing to help Kyrgyzstan achieve economic and social stability.
As the international community works with the Provisional Government to help confront these many challenges, coordination and consultation are essential. The United States remains in constant contact with Tashkent, Astana, Moscow, the European Union, the United Nations and others to ensure stability and security in Kyrgyzstan. The crisis has brought Russia and United States together in a region where so many suggest we are rivals. Presidents Obama and Medvedev even issued a joint statement on Kyrgyzstan at their last meeting.
Now, I’d like to open the floor up to you for your thoughts and questions.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
