Rubio is in Uzbekistan to promote US ties and trade with Central Asia

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Uzbekistan on Monday to promote trade and ties with Central Asia, during a trip that came amid rumblings that America’s top diplomat is ignoring pressing matters in favor of politically safer visits and meetings. The trip, which involves a stop in India later this week, seeks to promote U.S. economic and security ties with Central and South Asia.

But it has only tangential links to the Trump administration’s current main foreign policy dilemmas in the Middle East and with the Russia-Ukraine war. Rubio has brushed aside suggestions he is eschewing the most difficult issues in favor of taking on lower-hanging diplomatic fruit with less risk of failure and political damage, and the State Department pushed back on the criticism of his schedule. In Samarkand, Rubio was meeting with his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan under the C5+1 diplomatic forum, which brings together the five Central Asian countries and the United States to discuss security, trade and other shared concerns.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Rubio said “the United States wants to be a strong partner in Central Asia.” “Central Asia has just not gotten the level of attention from our policymakers over the last 20 years that it deserves. That’s why we’re here now,” he said. Despite repeated assurances from multiple administrations that the U.S.

would become more actively involved in Central Asia, the region has often languished as a foreign policy priority in Washington. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly independent Central Asian nations saw a brief surge in U.S. interest, but that waned until after the Sept.

11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, which turned America’s attention once again toward Afghanistan and its neighbors. established a military presence in several countries mainly as transit points for equipment, materiel and provisions needed by U.S. and allied forces fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

wound down its 20-year operation in Afghanistan, the Trump administration, in both its first and second terms, has sought to elevate its ties with Central Asia due to its location between Russia and China, but also as an underdeveloped area ripe for U.S. That’s why we’re here now,” he said.Despite repeated assurances from multiple administrations that the U.S. and allied forces fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan.As the U.S.