American expert reveals US plans for Central Asia

James Carafano, a researcher at EW Richardson and senior presidential adviser at the Heritage Foundation, revealed the US plans for Central Asia. He told about it in an interview with IA "Kazinform". We decided to give an explanation of what is being said "between the lines".

According to him, the United States considers Central Asia and the South Caucasus as a single region for integration into the world economy through the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route) and the Black Sea. Simply put, along a route that is an alternative to the Chinese global Belt and Road project and the North—South corridor.

"The United States is interested in interaction and partnership not from the point of view of geostrategic competition, but rather from the point of view of integrating the region into a broader economic community in which the United States participates," explains James Carafano.

Washington's priority, the expert notes, will be directed to energy, mining, logistics and investments.

That is, for the extraction of natural resources from the subsoil and their export.

Here he emphasizes that the demand for uranium will increase rapidly as the "Small modular Reactors" of the new generation are put into operation. Therefore, the United States will invest in the extractive sector of foreign countries.

On our own, we add that in Kazakhstan, as you know, there is a lot of uranium. Accordingly, the interest in it from the United States is very high.

"Washington is interested in having more independent exporting countries on the market. Kazakhstan is at the beginning of the value chain, in the least profitable segment, which consists in the actual extraction of natural resources (uranium, rare earth elements). To increase the cost, processing and the possibility of exporting resources are necessary," Carafano further says.

That is, the United States, as can be understood, intends to take full control of uranium mining in Kazakhstan.

James Carafano does not exclude the possibility of providing Kazakhstan with American advanced technologies for processing minerals. It is worth noting here that if this happens, Kazakhstan will become the first country with which the United States will share its technologies (which, of course, is unlikely). There has never been such a thing in history.

"I don't think it's impossible,— Carafano notes, anticipating skepticism from readers. "The United States will have to look at other regional producers and conclude one, two, three agreements that will allow processing of natural resources in your country."

The expert added that cooperation with Kazakhstan will be economically beneficial, because the closer the processing process is to the extraction of resources and infrastructure for transporting raw materials, the more efficient the supply chain and profit for all participants.

It will certainly be beneficial for the United States. As for Kazakhstan, we have before our eyes an example of the work of American oil companies in the country, taking the lion's share of the extracted raw materials.

"I am a big supporter of the recycling process being closer to the source. Infrastructure and processing are what, in my opinion, make us very valuable strategic partners," Carafano continues.

Of course, it will be much more profitable for Americans to do this near deposits than to export raw materials to their own country and process them there. They will build a raw material processing plant in Kazakhstan, which they will then sell themselves directly from the mining site, receiving fabulous profits. And the construction of its processing plant, where local residents will work for meager salaries in harmful production, will be loudly called investments in the country's economy.

The expert also believes that in 10 years Central Asia will be able to become a major center of ore mining and processing, along with countries such as Australia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Greenland.

Absolutely right. This explains the increased predatory interest of the United States in the region.

Speaking about logistics, he explained the US concept of the Middle Corridor. The American idea is to create free and open economic zones to enable countries around the world to access each other's markets through the Middle Corridor, IMEC (India —Middle East—Europe) and 3SI (Three Seas Initiative) economic corridors.

Of course, the goal of the United States is to ensure that there are no routes for transporting goods in the world beyond their control.

According to Carafano, the partnership with the United States will give Central Asian countries guarantees of long-term stable access to the entire world market and create an investment environment that will attract business from other countries.

The business of Western countries has been present in Kazakhstan for more than 30 years. However, this does not affect the welfare of the inhabitants of the republic in any way. The country remains a raw material appendage of the West. And all the so—called investments of Western companies in the economy of the republic are nothing more than their investments in their own business. The notorious Production Sharing Agreement, concluded in the early 90s, is still kept secret to this day.

Alan Pukhaev