A PROGRAM OF THE INTERNATIONAL TAX AND INVESTMENT CENTER,

WASHINGTON, DC, 

OCTOBER 21, 2024

BY AMB. (RET.) RICHRD E. HOAGLAND

The International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC, www.iticnet.org ), based in Washington, DC, held a hybrid program (in person and online) at the National Bureau of Asian Research on October 21.  In view of the U.S. presidential election on November 5, the program’s title was “America’s Future in Central Asia:  Comparing the Approaches of Potential Administrations.”  The purpose of the program was to suggest policy recommendations for whichever candidate wins – either former President Donald J. Trump or current Vice President Kamala Harris.

To promote their program, the ITIC wrote, “Central Asia has emerged as a key region in the great-power competition between the United States and adversaries like Russia and China.  Beyond the geographic position of the region, its importance in energy, mining, and transportation sectors has made relations with the Central Asian states a growing priority.  This has been reflected in Biden administration actions such as hosting the C5+1 and the B5+1 summits.  This raises the question of how the next administration, whether it is led by Trump or Harris, will approach the region and how they may differ.”

The program’s speakers included:

• Kamran Bokhari, Founder and Senior Director, Eurasian Security and Prosperity at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy.
• Thomas Dans, Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Davis Center for National Security and Foreign Policy; during the first Trump administration, he served as Counselor to the Under Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury.
• Amb. (ret.) Richard E. Hoagland, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Caspian Policy Center in Washington, DC, and former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia; former U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan and then to Kazakhstan, and former Charge d’affaires (acting ambassador) to Turkmenistan and then Pakistan.
• Wesley Alexander Hill, Lead Analyst and International Programs Manager for the Energy  Growth, and Security Program at the ITIC.

In this presentation, the Caspian Policy Center’s Amb. (ret.) Hoagland recommended that whomever wins, either Harris or Trump, should become the first-ever U.S. President to visit Central Asia and should also set up regular cabinet-level visits to the region to raise the U.S. profile in this strategically important region.  He also emphasized that Washington should strongly encourage the five independent nations of Central Asia to find a mutually acceptable way to institutionalize the current C5.  Among other recommendations, he suggested that the Secretary of State in the next administration should establish an office that would report directly to her or to him to focus on the Trans-Caspian Region, the five states of Central Asia and the three of the South Caucasus, to signify increased U.S. interest in the region.  This would mirror the special office that was established under the Secretary of State immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the 15 new independent states.