June 16, 2026
Kazakhstan Is Becoming One of Washington's Key Partners in Eurasia (Russian)
Turan Research Center Director Joseph Epstein spoke with Kazakhstan's Arasha.kz about President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's meeting with U.S. Special Envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor, and what the encounter reveals about the deepening strategic partnership between Astana and Washington.
The conversation centered on the question of why Kazakhstan's significance to the United States is rising now. In Epstein's assessment, two factors stand out above the rest: critical minerals and transport connectivity, above all the Middle Corridor.
Over the past year, Beijing has repeatedly tightened export controls and demonstrated a willingness to leverage its dominance over rare earth and critical mineral supply chains as an instrument of pressure. That shift, Epstein argues, has turned what was once a long-term diversification goal for Washington into an urgent priority, and Kazakhstan holds the resources the United States now needs.
But extraction alone does not break the dependency. Today, much of Kazakhstan's mineral output is still shipped to China for processing and refining, which means the United States has not reduced its exposure so much as moved the chokepoint to another link in the chain. The real prize, Epstein notes, is whether Kazakhstan can develop its own processing and refining capacity beyond Beijing's control. That version of a knowledge economy is what would become genuinely attractive to American investors and development institutions, paired with a westbound route, the Middle Corridor, that bypasses both Russia and Iran.
The partnership also carries a political dimension. Tokayev was the first leader to join the Abraham Accords during President Trump's second term, and Astana's support for initiatives such as TRIPP and the Peace Council signals a willingness to be constructive on precisely the issues this administration prioritizes, building real goodwill in Washington. Epstein also points to Kazakhstan's longstanding role as a diplomatic convener, from the Astana process on Syria to its current positioning as a mediator and platform for dialogue, as an asset that will only grow more valuable as the international system fragments.
Read the full interview at Arasha.kz (Russian).
Joseph Epstein is Director of the Turan Research Center.