WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush has turned on the charm to court the president of Kazakhstan.
Facing the strategic loss of U.S. air bases in Uzbekistan, Bush has made an abrupt move to improve relations with oil rich Kazakhstan -- in area and resources, though not in population, the giant among the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, the Eurasia Daily Monitor of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation reported Friday.
In a long letter made public Monday, and glowing in many passages with praise for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's policies, Bush termed Kazakhstan a "strategic partner of the United States in Central Asia," EDM said.
Noting Kazakhstan's anti-terrorist efforts in Central Asia in cooperation with the United States, Bush's letter announced, "We want to expand that cooperation."
Bush went on to underscore Kazakhstan's troop contributions to U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Kazakhstan's "impressive economic performance," and the country's internal political stability, by all of which "Kazakhstan has set an example for other states in the region," EDM said.
Further democratic reforms and a free and fair presidential election should give Nazarbayev a strong mandate for another presidential term, Bush concluded in his letter.
EDM noted that the letter was delivered to Nazarbiyev in the new Kazakh capital Astana on Monday, only three days after Uzbekistan's "eviction notice" to the United States to pull out of its strategically important air field.
"Whether the strategic partnership with Uzbekistan is lost or -- as still seems possible -- retrieved, a re-ordering of Washington's policy priorities in Central Asia seems necessary," EDM concluded.
