Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday vowed US support for Kazakhstan's independence on a trip to boost influence in Central Asia, which has been rattled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  "As you know well, the United States strongly supports Kazakhstan's sovereignty, its independence, its territorial integrity," Blinken said as he met with his Kazakh counterpart. "Sometimes we just say those words and they actually have no meaning. And of course, in this particular time, they have even more resonance than usual," Blinken said, referring to Russia's assault on Ukraine a year ago.

Blinken said that the United States was "determined to make even stronger" the US relationship with Kazakhstan, which has embraced cooperation with Washington since its independence on the collapse of the Soviet Union, despite Moscow's overwhelming influence.

The top US diplomat later opened talks with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and will fly afterward to Uzbekistan. In Astana, Blinken will also meet with the foreign ministers of all five former Soviet republics in Central Asia -- which also include Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The trip is the most senior to Central Asia by an official in US President Joe Biden's administration and comes days after the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has received billions of Dollars in Western support.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP