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terrorism have been the most important driving force for the US to develop military
and security cooperation with Central Asian countries. Despite a lowered presence,
it can still be argued that the US will remain in Central Asia for a longer time due to
its strategic position and the intense global competition on energy resources.
From the time of the election of George W. Bush as US President until September
11, 2001, the interest of the United States to the region continued to be mainly economic. Clifford Bond, “US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s” former adviser to the
Soviet republics, stated at the International Relations Committee of the US House
of Representatives that the United States had vital interests in the region in terms of
the smooth transferal of energy resources to world markets and the adoption of free
market conditions. However, since this time it has become clear that geopolitical
aspects also play a heavy role in policy toward the region, and the US pursues an
active policy to balance the effects of Russia, China, and India in the region and to
engage in multidimensional strategic relations with the countries of the region in
order to do so.
Russia supported the Afghanistan operation with military cooperation. However,
the support given by its former Soviet satellites owed far more to reducing Russia’s
influence, shoring up security concerns, and paving the way for Western capital
(www.akademikperspektif.com 2017).
Obama’s administration differed in practice from George W. Bush, pursuing a
more moderate and compromising path rather than the aggressive policies pursued
by Bush, although arguably their priorities remained the same. Obama’s administration pulled American troops out of Iraq and began to concentrate more on
Afghanistan, bringing the Central Asian region back into priority.
This refocus coincided with the development of new oil and gas extraction technologies which liberated new sources of energy in North America, to make the US
into an emerging energy superpower. The exclusivity of this technology and its
economic advantages in terms of improving employment rates has decreased oil
import costs and the amount of gas imported from abroad, reducing the vulnerability of the US economy to the volatility of oil prices in global markets and the reduction of energy prices in the United States compared with other consumer countries.
However, the exploitation of shale energy resources in the United States has not yet
displaced the Gulf region as the most important area in terms of stabilizing oil
prices on the world market, as well as supplying Asian growth, and thus the region
shall remain in the sights of US policymakers for decades to come.
Summary
terrorism have been the most important driving force for the US to develop military
and security cooperation with Central Asian countries. Despite a lowered presence,
it can still be argued that the US will remain in Central Asia for a longer time due to
its strategic position and the intense global competition on energy resources.
From the time of the election of George W. Bush as US President until September
11, 2001, the interest of the United States to the region continued to be mainly economic. Clifford Bond, “US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s” former adviser to the
Soviet republics, stated at the International Relations Committee of the US House
of Representatives that the United States had vital interests in the region in terms of
the smooth transferal of energy resources to world markets and the adoption of free
market conditions. However, since this time it has become clear that geopolitical
aspects also play a heavy role in policy toward the region, and the US pursues an
active policy to balance the effects of Russia, China, and India in the region and to
engage in multidimensional strategic relations with the countries of the region in
order to do so.
Russia supported the Afghanistan operation with military cooperation. However,
the support given by its former Soviet satellites owed far more to reducing Russia’s
influence, shoring up security concerns, and paving the way for Western capital
(www.akademikperspektif.com 2017).
Obama’s administration differed in practice from George W. Bush, pursuing a
more moderate and compromising path rather than the aggressive policies pursued
by Bush, although arguably their priorities remained the same. Obama’s administration pulled American troops out of Iraq and began to concentrate more on
Afghanistan, bringing the Central Asian region back into priority.
This refocus coincided with the development of new oil and gas extraction technologies which liberated new sources of energy in North America, to make the US
into an emerging energy superpower. The exclusivity of this technology and its
economic advantages in terms of improving employment rates has decreased oil
import costs and the amount of gas imported from abroad, reducing the vulnerability of the US economy to the volatility of oil prices in global markets and the reduction of energy prices in the United States compared with other consumer countries.
However, the exploitation of shale energy resources in the United States has not yet
displaced the Gulf region as the most important area in terms of stabilizing oil
prices on the world market, as well as supplying Asian growth, and thus the region
shall remain in the sights of US policymakers for decades to come.
Summary