Hello! Here, I am Vadim Boreiko and the HyperBorei channel. Between February 11 and 14, USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman visited Kazakhstan. USAID is the top federal government agency responsible for United States foreign aid. USAID’s Administrator and Deputy Administrator are appointed by the President, with approval from the Senate, and coordinate their actions with the Secretary of State. So, a very high-level official has come to Kazakhstan. In Almaty’s American Spaces, she met with participants of USAID’s Central Asia Media Program (MediaCAMP)’s media literacy project, and after the conclusion of the award ceremony, I sat down for an interview with her.
VADIM BOREIKO: Deputy Administrator Coleman, welcome to Almaty.
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: Thank you for having me, I’m happy to be here.
VADIM BOREIKO: So, I’ve been noticing that since the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, and after the Russian aggression started in Ukraine, the United States has sort of diminished its influence in Central Asia and Afghanistan, giving way to such countries such as Russia, China, Turkey and even Arab countries, is that so? Is that true?
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: I don’t see it quite that way, and the fact that I’m here today I think as a sign of the importance we put on our relationship with Central Asian countries. And I know our Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will be visiting Kazakhstan soon. And while we withdrew our troops from Afghanistan, it doesn’t mean we have cut off all of our interaction with that country. Since August of 2021, when we withdrew our troops, USAID has put more than $1 billion of humanitarian assistance into Afghanistan. We are also continuing longer term economic development projects to benefit the people of Afghanistan. And we are deeply engaged with Afghanistan’s neighbors, from Pakistan to the Gulf countries to India to Central Asian countries, talking about Afghanistan and what more we can collectively do to help the country get on a better path. In fact, yesterday in Astana a big part of my conversation with government officials was about Afghanistan. We recognize the importance of Central Asian countries and geopolitically, geostrategically and we are very determined to remain very engaged here as we have been for 30 years, since Central Asian countries got their independence.
VADIM BOREIKO: You mentioned that you met some of the high level officials, can you name the officials or the positions?
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: Yes, I met with the Special Envoy of the President, Mr. Kazykhan, and I also met with First Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Umarov.
VADIM BOREIKO: Can you tell me more about what USAID does in Kazakhstan?
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: USAID has been engaged with Kazakhstan since the beginning of this country's independence and we have worked in a number of different areas helping the country on its economic growth on energy, and more on clean energy these days, also on health and on democracy and governance among other things.
VADIM BOREIKO: Well, we all do know what an advancement of a Russian world implemented by Mr. Putin means, however many can counter argue that there is also an advancement of the American world that is probably done by USAID, what is the difference?
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: Well I think that the difference is very stark, the American world that we are advancing is one that is values based, it is providing, from USAID’s perspective, providing assistance to countries like Kazakhstan for its people to be healthier, to be more prosperous, to be more resilient and democratic, to build stronger institutions, to be more integrated with its regional neighbors and really to protect its independence, its sovereignty, its borders and to be more prosperous and secure. I think this stands in stark contrast to Mr. Putin’s vision, which is to ignore international law, international borders and boundaries, to invade neighboring countries, Georgia, Ukraine, 2014 and more fully last year. His most recent invasion of Ukraine has destabilized the region, has destabilized the global economy and increased food and fertilizer prices around the world, causing hardship for millions of people.
VADIM BOREIKO: On the 20th of January at the Press conference the U.S. Ambassador Daniel Rossenblum said that we accept and recognize Kazakhstan’s multi-vector policy and he also added that you need to be in good neighborhood relations with the neighboring states, so could you please explain, what’s the stance of the United States when it comes to close relations between Kazakhstan and Russia?
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: I think what Ambassador Rossenblum was acknowledging was that Kazakhstan lives in a hard neighborhood. It has a difficult region that it’s in, with Afghanistan and all of the instability that that has represented to itself – Iran, Russia, China, it’s in between some challenging players in the region. And it’s important that Kazakhstan has a multi-vector foreign policy, that it can work well with its regional neighbors, its other Central Asian neighbors, to realize the synergies of those relationships, economically, from an energy perspective, more integrated trade. Having positive relations with its neighbors allows each of the Central Asian countries to be stronger themselves and to have more independence to be able to ensure their sovereignty and territorial integrity because we have seen that the neighbor to the North, Russia, has violated the territorial integrity of other neighboring countries along its border and so its important that Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian countries are able to have strength in their relations among each other and in their ability to maintain their strong independence. Of course there are long standing historical ties, cultural ties with Russia and trade ties with Russia but there’s a difference between enjoying peaceful relations with a neighboring country and being dominated by a neighboring country.
VADIM BOREIKO: You may have heard that a few independent journalists have been attacked by some unknown individuals or thugs and they have suffered different levels of damage, so to that end on the 20th of January, President Tokayev has instructed the Minister of Interior to identify those who were behind these attacks. On the 30th of January, following the initiative of the Canadian Embassy, a briefing was organized with 23 diplomatic mission representatives, including U.S. Ambassador Rossenblum, with three independent journalists who suffered these attacks. So, the diplomats have expressed their support and have also expressed their serious concern and welcomed the President to do a full fledged investigation. I do not remember anything like this that the whole core diplomatic would defend independent journalism, throughout all my history, this is the first time ever that this kind of event happened. However, despite that, the attacks continue while no large-scale media in Kazakhstan publishing anything about this briefing, so to me, it feels like that briefing didn’t make any practical sense. What was the point of that briefing?
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: I have heard about the attacks on journalists and I understand you’re one of those journalists and I do want to thank you for your courage in the work that you do. It is so incredibly important to have independent media investigative journalists, journalists who are willing to speak truth to power, and the work that you and other independent journalists do is a really really critical element of building a more resilient and stronger civil society, and a critical piece of the path for this country on its democratic journey, so thank you. It’s very unfortunate that there was not more publicity around that meeting and around the statement because I do think there is strong international support for the journalists and for a full investigation of what happened. And I know that my government, the United States and other governments, Canada and European Governments, are watching the situation closely and I’m sure we’ll speak out again as needed.
VADIM BOREIKO: You just came to Kazakhstan from Ukraine and as you do know the 24th of February 2022 was the day when the war started so this aggression has continued for a whole year. How long do you think the war will last?
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: I don’t have a crystal ball, so I don’t know how long the war will last, but I can tell you that the Ukrainian people are really just remarkable in their determination to win, not just win the war but win their own future, and the United States and I know other countries stand firmly with Ukraine so that they can be successful in this. Mr. Putin miscalculated, he thought the Ukrainian people would just fold in a matter of days. He thought the West would be divided, but instead the West has been very united in responding to this brutal and unprovoked attack and invasion of a neighbor. NATO is united, the EU is united, the United States is very much a leader on support for Ukraine and you’ve seen countries all around the world come together and donate financial assistance, much needed energy equipment to repair the electrical grid from relentless missile and drone attacks from Russia and also of course provide military assistance so that Ukraine can survive and win against this terrible assault.
VADIM BOREIKO: Thank you for this opportunity to ask you all these questions.
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: Thank you so much, and once again, thank you for the very important and courageous work that you do. Thank you.
Original source can be found here.
