[House Hearing, 111 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
THE EMERGING IMPORTANCE OF THE
U.S.-CENTRAL ASIA PARTNERSHIP
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC AND
THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
NOVEMBER 17, 2010
__________
Serial No. 111-134
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/
----------
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
Samoa DAN BURTON, Indiana
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ELTON GALLEGLY, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas
DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
MICHAEL E. McMAHON, New York J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida CONNIE MACK, Florida
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
GENE GREEN, Texas MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
LYNN WOOLSEY, California TED POE, Texas
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
BARBARA LEE, California GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
MIKE ROSS, Arkansas
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
JIM COSTA, California
KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
RON KLEIN, Florida
Richard J. Kessler, Staff Director
Yleem Poblete, Republican Staff Director
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Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa, Chairman
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
DIANE E. WATSON, California BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
MIKE ROSS, Arkansas DANA ROHRABACHER, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
C O N T E N T S
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Page
WITNESSES
The Honorable Robert O. Blake, Jr., Assistant Secretary, Bureau
of South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State
(Former United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives).... 9
Mr. David S. Sedney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, Office of the Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs,
U.S. Department of Defense..................................... 21
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, a Representative in Congress
from American Samoa, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Asia, the
Pacific and the Global Environment: Prepared statement......... 6
The Honorable Robert O. Blake, Jr.: Prepared statement........... 13
Mr. David S. Sedney: Prepared statement.......................... 24
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 40
Hearing minutes.................................................. 41
The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, a Representative in Congress
from American Samoa: Material submitted for the record......... 42
The Honorable Diane E. Watson, a Representative in Congress from
the State of California: Prepared statement.................... 51
THE EMERGING IMPORTANCE OF THE U.S.-CENTRAL ASIA PARTNERSHIP
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2010
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific
and the Global Environment,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:35 p.m., in
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eni F.H.
Faleomavaega (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Faleomavaega. This is a hearing of the House Foreign
Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global
Environment. The topic for discussion and dialogue this
afternoon is the emerging importance of the U.S. and Central
Asia partnership. My good friend, the ranking minority member,
at this point in time at least, is on his way. And I would like
to preface my remarks in terms of this being the last hearing
that I am going to chair in my capacity as chairman of this
Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the
Global Environment. And I wanted, especially, for my good
friend, the gentleman from Illinois, to be here so that I could
have some choice words to say about our great relationship over
the years he has served as the ranking member of this
subcommittee, my good friend Congressman Don Manzullo from
Illinois.
So, as you know, there are a lot of things that have
happened in the course of the past couple of weeks. I do offer
my congratulations. This is how beautiful democracy is. We
didn't have to go through a revolution or state of war, or
whatever it is to change government, at least in this important
body. The makeup of our democracy means that my good friends on
the other side of the aisle have regained the majority of this
House and accordingly, they will also control the various
aspects of how this institution is going to be administered and
how it's going to be operating.
So I do want to offer my sincere apologies to Assistant
Secretary Blake and Mr. Sedney from the Defense Department for
your patience and forbearance in bearing with us and the
problems that we have had with this afternoon's schedule. As
you know, we had a little Democratic Caucus organizational
meeting this morning, and we have just completed that meeting.
And I do thank you for taking the time to be with us here this
afternoon.
I want to say that it has been my privilege to work closely
with my good friend, who I believe will be the new chairman of
this subcommittee when they reorganize. And that, again, is my
good friend, Mr. Manzullo, who will take up the chairmanship of
this subcommittee. I want to say that even though we have not
agreed on all of the issues that have been discussed and
debated in this subcommittee, I have the utmost respect for his
opinions and the positions he has taken on some of the issues
we have engaged on. This is what makes this democracy so
beautiful: That we are free to engage in dialogue and express
differences of opinion about given issues, how they impact our
national policies, and most important of all, provide for the
welfare of our fellow Americans.
Being a member of this committee now for almost 22 years,
it is one of the most enriching experiences of my life.
And I am going to begin our hearing this afternoon by
giving this opening statement that I have prepared for the past
100 years. So please bear with me, Mr. Secretary and Mr.
Sedney, since this is my last hurrah, I sincerely ask you, you
might make some points out of it.
But anyway, this is the final hearing to be held by the
subcommittee of the 111th Congress during my tenure as
chairman. I am especially pleased to welcome U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert
Blake, who will testify today about the emerging importance of
the United States and Central Asian partnership.
I admire Assistant Secretary Blake and the work he is doing
to strengthen our relationship with Central Asia, and I am
appreciative that he served as our keynote speaker last year in
November, when Ranking Member Buck McKeon of the Armed Services
Committee and I kicked off the Congressional Caucus on Central
Asia, which we established to highlight the importance of
Central Asia to U.S. security, energy, and economic interests.
I was first introduced to the challenges facing Central
Asia through my friendship with His Excellency, Kanat
Saudabayev, who now serves as the foreign minister and
Secretary of State for the Republic of Kazakhstan as well as
the chairperson-in-office of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, but who once served as Ambassador of
Kazakhstan to the United States for more than 6\1/2\ years.
My friendship with Foreign Minister Saudabayev has spanned
almost a decade now, and because of him, I have come to
appreciate President Nursultan Nazarbayev's leadership in
championing nuclear disarmament among possessor states and
preventing proliferation to new states.
From 1949 to 1991, the former Soviet Union conducted nearly
500 nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, and exposed
more than 1.5 million Kazakhs to nuclear radiation. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan was left with the
world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal and the world's second
largest nuclear test site.
While Kazakhstan could have emerged as a nuclear superpower
and used its position to resolve the financial problems of a
new and struggling nation, President Nazarbayev was among the
first to recognize and neutralize the dangerous threat posed by
the nuclear arsenal Kazakhstan inherited from the former Soviet
Union.
Despite threats from the Kremlin, President Nazarbayev
supported the Nunn-Lugar program in its infancy, and
voluntarily dismantled a nuclear arsenal which was larger than
the combined nuclear arsenals of Great Britain, France, and
China.
As a Pacific Islander, I have a special affinity for the
people of Kazakhstan because from 1946 to 1958, the United
States detonated 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands,
including the first hydrogen bomb--what was then known as the
Bravo shot in 1954--which was 1,300 times more powerful than
the bombs we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The nuclear
testing program exposed the people in the Marshall Islands to
severe health problems and genetic abnormalities for
generations to come. The U.S. nuclear testing program in the
Marshall Islands also set a precedent for France to use the
islands of the Pacific for its own testing programs. Oh, no.
Don't test it in France--not in Paris. Take it where there are
a bunch of natives sitting out in the middle of nowhere in the
Pacific to do their nuclear testing.
And for some 30 years, the French Government detonated
approximately 218 nuclear bombs in the air, on the surface, and
below the surface of these atolls known as Moruroa and
Fangataufa. And these atolls are about a couple of hundred
miles away from the main island of Tahiti in French Polynesia.
In Kazakhstan, the cumulative power of explosions from
nuclear tests conducted by the former Soviet Union is believed
to be equal to the power of 2,500 explosions of the type of
bomb dropped in Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.
Six years ago, I felt a deep sense of obligation as a
Member of Congress who had visited the nuclear test sites in
the Marshall Islands and Tahiti to also visit the Semipalatinsk
test site in Kazakhstan. During my visit and at the invitation
of President Nazarbayev, I learned that I was the first
American legislator to set foot on ground zero in
Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. And to this date, ground zero is
still radioactive.
During my time in Semipalatinsk, I also met and visited
with the bed-ridden victims of nuclear testing, and I continue
to be haunted by their suffering. However, I am grateful to my
colleagues who stood with me during the 109th Congress in
passing House Resolution 905, which called upon the U.S.
administration to establish a joint working group with the
Government of Kazakhstan to assist in assessing the
environmental damage and health effects caused by the former
Soviet Union's nuclear testing in Kazakhstan. And I am hopeful
that the Obama administration will follow up on this resolution
and establish this long overdue working group.
Currently the Obama administration has listed five
objectives for enhanced U.S. engagement in Central Asia. These
objectives include maximizing cooperation for coalition efforts
in Afghanistan and Pakistan with increased emphasis on the use
of air bases and the transit of troops and supplies to
Afghanistan along the northern distribution network; increasing
the development and diversification of the region's energy
resources; promoting good governance and respect for human
rights; and fostering competitive market economies, and
preventing state failures in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan by
enhancing food security assistance.
Signs of this enhanced engagement includes a recent meeting
between President Obama and President Nazarbayev at the Nuclear
Security Summit held in Washington, DC, in April of this year,
and U.S. support for the OSCE summit which will be held in
Astana, Kazakhstan, on December 1st and 2nd, next month, of
this year.
Three years ago, under the Bush administration, my
colleagues and I spearheaded an effort in Congress calling upon
the United States to support Kazakhstan's bid to chair the
OSCE, and I am including this September 17, 2007, letter to the
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for the record.
Recognizing, as David Wilshire, head of the delegation of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, noted, that
building democracy is a long and hard task. I felt that the
U.S. could and should offer a gesture of goodwill by assisting
Kazakhstan in its bid to chair the OSCE considering that
Kazakhstan voluntarily worked with the U.S. to dismantle the
world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal and has been a key ally
in the war against terrorism.
I am pleased that the U.S. finally supported Kazakhstan's
bid for 2010. And while there will always be critics intent on
criticizing Kazakhstan in its attempt to move the OSCE forward,
member states unanimously voted in favor of Kazakhstan's
chairmanship. I believe they did so in recognition of the bold
steps President Nazarbayev has taken to bring Kazakhstan out
from under the yoke of communism.
Of course, there is work left to be done, but according to
polling data from an independent firm hired by the U.S. Embassy
in Kazakhstan during the Bush administration, 90 percent of the
people of Kazakhstan support President Nazarbayev and are
pleased with the work he is doing. And more than 63 percent of
the people of Kazakhstan have a favorable opinion of the United
States.
Since 9/11, and regarding U.S. coalition operations in
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan has allowed overflight and
transshipment to assist U.S. efforts. U.S.-Kazakh Accords were
signed in 2002 on the emergency use of Kazakhstan's Almaty
airport and on other military-to-military relations. The Kazakh
Parliament approved sending military engineers to Iraq in May
2003.
And in his April 2010 meeting with President Obama,
President Nazarbayev agreed to facilitate U.S. military air
flights along a new transpolar route that transits Kazakhstan
to Afghanistan. Now Kazakhstan is the first post-Soviet, the
first predominantly Muslim, and the first Central Asian nation
to serve in the top leadership role of the OSCE, an
organization known for promoting democracy, human rights, and
the rule of law.
As chair of the OSCE, Kazakhstan will also host the Astana
Summit. The Astana Summit, like Kazakhstan's chairmanship of
the OSCE, is historic. It is historic.
Earlier this year, my colleagues and I spearheaded an
effort calling upon the United States to stand with Kazakhstan
in support of an OSCE summit. And I will also make this January
27, 2010, letter to President Obama part of the record, while
expressing my appreciation to the Obama administration, and
especially to U.S. Secretary of State Clinton and Assistant
Secretary of State Blake, who are expected to represent the
United States at the Astana Summit. It is my hope that I might
also be there to witness this historic occasion.
The Astana Summit has been organized at the initiative of
President Nazarbayev, and will be the first OSCE meeting of
heads of state to take place in more than 10 years. It has been
10 years since the OSCE held a security summit, and the world
has changed drastically since then as a direct result of 9/11.
While I have serious reservations about U.S. involvement in
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan aims to use the OSCE chair and summit
to press for a resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan, and
for this reason, I am pleased that the United States is
supporting the Astana Summit. However, given the serious
importance of the summit to U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, I hope
President Obama will make it his top priority to attend. His
presence will send the right signal to our allies in Central
Asia who are also putting their lives on the line for us.
At this time I want to commend Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Latvia for providing
supply routes to support U.S. and NATO operations in
Afghanistan. Known as the Northern Distribution Network, these
operations are critical to coalition efforts. Simply put,
without the support of Central Asia, we have no hope in
Afghanistan.
But I would hope that our partnership with Central Asia
would extend past the war in Afghanistan in both breadth and
depth. For over 100 years, the people of Central Asia have
lived without basic freedoms. In my humble opinion, based on
meetings with the people and leaders of these countries, they,
like us, want to continue their march toward democracy, and it
is my sincere hope to do what I can in my capacity as a Member
of this great institution.
Again, it is my honor to welcome our witnesses, including
the Honorable Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for
South and Central Asian Affairs, and Mr. David Sedney, the
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Central Asia. I do want to thank them both for
their service to our country, especially to all of the men and
women in our Armed Forces and I also will always extend to them
my highest regards. As a Vietnam veteran, I cannot say enough
about the sacrifices that the families of our men and women in
uniform make for our Nation. And I think at times we don't say
enough to express how much we appreciate what they do and the
service they render to our country.
I am so happy and very honored that I have my good friend
and ranking member of this subcommittee, whom I sincerely hope
will be the chairman of the committee in the coming weeks, my
good friend, the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Manzullo.
I want to say, before giving him the time for his opening
statement, I just want to state for the record that it is
indeed my personal honor to have worked with you for all of
these years, and as I said earlier in my remarks, we have not
always agreed on the issues we have discussed and debated on,
but the mutual respect for each other I want to say is second
to none. And I want to thank you, sir, for all of the help in
the times that we went through, up and down, whatever way. It
has always been my honor to work with you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Faleomavaega follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Manzullo. This is not a farewell party. But I have
tremendous respect for my chairman and look forward to working
with you. And I commend you for having a hearing on countries
that have essentially been forgotten but are absolutely
critical to the future of not only of our country, but the
stability of the entire region and I look forward to testimony
of the witnesses.
Mr. Faleomavaega. I thank the gentleman from Illinois.
I would like to now introduce our distinguished witnesses
this afternoon. Assistant Secretary Blake, who is a senior
officer with the Foreign Service, served previously as
Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Also Deputy Chief of
Mission to New Delhi, India. He served also in Tunisia,
Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria.
Mr. Blake earned his degree at Harvard, also a master's
degree at Johns Hopkins University, and has been appointed now
as our Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs
since last year.
Also with us is Mr. Samuel Sedney, the Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central
Asia in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. Mr. Sedney has been Deputy
Assistant Secretary for 2 years in this capacity. Before
serving in the Department of Defense, he spent 5 years as a
house husband in Bern, Switzerland. Wow, that's a real tough
task for Mr. Sedney to do. A graduate of Princeton University
and Suffolk School of Law. He attended Louisiana State
University's School of Law where he studied law. And a very
distinguished career for both of these gentlemen. And again, I
want to say how much I appreciate both of you making the effort
to come and testify before the subcommittee. The staff has just
given me a note.
Well, why don't we start with Secretary Blake. We still
have time. I will tell you when it's 4:30, Mr. Sedney. We can
do that. Thank you, Mr. Blake, please proceed.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ROBERT O. BLAKE, JR., ASSISTANT
SECRETARY, BUREAU OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE (FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO SRI
LANKA AND MALDIVES)
Ambassador Blake. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I
appreciate all of your opening remarks. And let me, at the
outset, thank you so much for your leadership of this
subcommittee while I have been Assistant Secretary. It has been
a real pleasure to work with you. And I can tell you everybody
at the State Department and the Obama administration
appreciates the energy and dedication that you have brought to
helping to enhance our cooperation and our engagement with
Central Asia.
You mentioned your leadership in establishing the Central
Asia Caucus, but you have also been a frequent traveler to the
region and have really helped to raise the profile of this very
important country, and of course, we wish you well and look
forward to continuing to work with you, and of course, Mr.
Manzullo and his colleagues as they enter into the majority.
Mr. Faleomavaega. We're not leaving.
Ambassador Blake. I have a longer statement for the record.
With your permission----
Mr. Faleomavaega. Without objection, both of your
statements will be made part of the record, and if you have any
related materials that you want to submit for the record, they
will be.
Ambassador Blake. Thank you so much. Mr. Chairman, Central
Asia, as you say, lies at a very critical, strategic crossroads
bordering Afghanistan, China, Russia, and Iran, which is why
the United States wants to continue to expand our engagement
and our cooperation with this critical region.
We have identified five main priorities for our engagement
in Central Asia. First, to assist coalition efforts in
Afghanistan; also to increase the development of the region's
energy resources and diversification of supply routes;
encourage political liberalization; enhance respect for human
rights; to foster competitive market economies and openings for
businesses; and also increase the capacity of states to govern
themselves effectively and serve the needs of their citizens.
Mr. Chairman, we don't see ourselves in competition for
influence with any other country, nor do we accept that the
five central Asian countries constitute an exclusive zone of
interest for any country. To the contrary, we want to cooperate
more with Russia, China, and others to address the critical
challenges and produce a more durable stability and more
reliable partners for everyone.
Central Asia has, in fact, been an area of common ground
for us to engage with Russia and to further the reset of our
relations with Russia, especially regarding Kyrgyzstan, where
they have been key partners.
In order to pursue our goals, we have developed in
partnership with countries in the region structured annual
bilateral consultations that I lead to elevate, enhance, and
energize our dialogue with each of the countries of Central
Asia. So let me highlight some of the key issues of these
countries.
Starting with Kyrgyzstan, the situation in the Kyrgyz
Republic remains a vital interest to the United States. As you
know, Mr. Chairman, on October 10, the Kyrgyz Republic held
Central Asia's first truly free parliamentary elections in
which the outcomes were not known in advance. And we are now
encouraging the leaders of the five parties there that
qualified for seats to cooperate and form an inclusive and
representative government.
The United States played a very active role in facilitating
this Democratic achievement through our assistance programs and
grants to the Kyrgyz Government and civil society and our
participation in the election monitoring mission.
At the same time, we are supporting the International
Commission to investigate the violence that took place in June
in southern Kyrgyzstan. This commission is headed by Kimmo
Kiljunen, a member of the Finnish Parliament.
We are also continuing to support an OSCE initiative to
improve public security, particularly in the south, to assist
in the urgent task of restoring mutual trust and preventing
further conflict in that important country.
Kyrgyzstan also remains an important partner in our efforts
in Afghanistan. The Manas Transit Center represents a key
contribution by the Kyrgyz Republic to the efforts of the
International Coalition to provide security for the Afghan
people.
Turning to Kazakhstan, I appreciate your comments on
Kazakhstan, Mr. Chairman. As you say, our relations with
Kazakhstan are probably our deepest and broadest of any in
Central Asia. And since you have mentioned it, I would like to
particularly recognize the recent completion of the long-term
effort to safely shut down Kazakhstan's BN 350, plutonium
production reactor, secure the spent fuel that it produced, and
then to transport that fuel to a secure facility. That process
has now been completed and marks a real milestone in our
nonproliferation cooperation, and I commend Kazakhstan for
that.
As you say, Mr. Chairman, Kazakhstan also has been a strong
supporter of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. But really the
spotlight is right now on Astana for another reason, because it
is the chairman and office of the OSCE, and Kazakhstan is about
to host the first OSCE summit in 11 years in Astana on December
1 and 2.
We think that Kazakhstan has done a very credible job as
OSCE chairman-in-office, especially dealing with the situation
in Kyrgyzstan, where the OSCE has really been at the forefront
of efforts to promote peace, democracy, and reconciliation.
We are also pleased that Kazakhstan has agreed to follow
the example of past summits and allow full access by NGOs and
permit NGOs to organize a parallel event on November 28 and 29.
We also encourage Kazakhstan to continue improve its human
rights record and to uphold the commitments it made in taking
on this chairmanship.
Mr. Chairman, Secretary Clinton plans to lead the U.S.
delegation to the OSCE summit. And we hope it to be successful.
The summit should produce two key documents. First, a Helsinki
Final Act 35th anniversary statement that reaffirms all of
those commitments, and also an ambitious substantive action
plan to guide future work of the OSCE. And of course, Mr.
Chairman, we would be delighted to welcome you as part of the
U.S. delegation in Astana.
Turning to Uzbekistan, as with other countries, the United
States has also increased our engagement with that important
country. We have a very full agenda of security, economic, and
human rights issues that we are working with them on.
Uzbekistan is a particular key partner for the U.S. effort in
Afghanistan for providing electricity to keep the lights on in
Kabul; it has facilitated transit for central supplies for
coalition forces, and it has helped to construct a very
important rail line inside Afghanistan.
So we have seen an improved relationship with Uzbekistan,
but some challenges remain. We continue to encourage the Uzbeks
to address significant human rights concerns, such as ending
forced child labor, opening up the media environment, and
demonstrating greater tolerance for religious activities.
In Tajikistan, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, is one of
the poorest countries in the world, and a fragile state in a
volatile neighborhood. Recent skirmishes between the government
and the formal civil war combatants, as well as security
threats, such as the August 25 prison break, really reflect the
continued tensions in that country. The United States is
working to strengthen law enforcement, border security,
increase food security, as you mentioned, strengthen health,
health and education, and encourage respect for human rights--
particularly religious and media freedom.
Last but not least in Turkmenistan, we continue to make
progress in facilitating Turkmenistan's gradual opening up and
its efforts to move toward reform and greater respect for human
rights. We also appreciate Turkmenistan's humanitarian help in
neighboring Afghanistan through its provision of discounted
electricity.
As part of our first ever annual bilateral consultations in
Ashgabat in June, I led the first ever U.S. business mission to
Turkmenistan, and this strengthened an important commercial
partnership with the nation that now holds the world's fourth
largest natural gas reserves.
Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, this administration considers
Central Asia to be an important pillar of our security policy
and regional U.S. interest. We recognize that the pace of
change is often slow, and that our programs should focus on
long-term, meaningful results. But through our invigorated
policy dialogue and our engagement, we aim to strengthen our
ties with these important countries and their people, and
thereby advance U.S. interest in this strategically important
region.
And again, I thank you for your personal engagement.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Blake follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Faleomavaega. Mr. Sedney.
STATEMENT OF MR. DAVID S. SEDNEY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF
DEFENSE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN AND CENTRAL ASIA, OFFICE OF
THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR ASIAN AND PACIFIC
SECURITY AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Mr. Sedney. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Manzullo, thank you very much
for this opportunity to speak with you regarding Central Asia
policy.
Assistant Secretary Blake has laid out for you the over-
arching goals and the efforts to achieve them on the part of
the administration's Central Asia policy. I will focus my
remarks briefly on the defense and security aspects of this
relationship.
As you said, Mr. Chairman, the focus of the Department of
Defense's efforts in Central Asia today in the short-term are
the transport of goods and equipment and personnel through the
ground and airline of communication through Central Asia. As
you said, these are critical to support the efforts of our men
and women in Afghanistan who are engaged in the vital effort
that is necessary as we all work together to disrupt,
dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda, prevent its return to
Afghanistan and ensure the success of Pakistan as well.
The Northern Distribution Network that you mentioned, in
addition to which is purely commercial, additionally the
Department of Defense conducts military overflights over most
countries in Central Asia. We have close relations with each
transit country and are working to increase the overflights and
the ground lines of transportation.
You referenced the agreements with Kazakhstan, that
agreement with Kazakhstan that will allow in the near future to
take advantage of the overflight, transport overflight that you
mentioned, Mr. Chairman, as a major step forward and we
appreciate that.
Also importantly we have access to the Manas Transit Center
in Kyrgyzstan through which virtually all of our combat troops
and many of our allies transit on their way into and out of
Afghanistan.
We greatly appreciate the willingness of the Kyrgyz
Government and Kyrgyz people to continue their support in our
common struggle, and we look forward to maintaining this
important link in our logistical network. It is through such
cooperation that we are able to make not just Afghanistan more
stable and Pakistan safer, but also Central Asia more secure
and protect the American homeland and the safety and security
of our allies around the world.
But beyond our focus on the immediate goals in Afghanistan,
we also have long-term security assistance goals in Central
Asia. Our security assistance focuses on the
professionalization of the military border guards,
counternarcotics forces and counterterrorism forces. We have
seen a great deal of progress in this area.
The George Marshall Center in Germany has trained close to
1,000 Central Asia security professionals to date, for example.
Similarly, our National Guard State partnership program has
used our citizen soldiers to help work on civil-military
relations throughout Central Asia.
Through the provision of the training that I mentioned, we
are helping to build modern counterterrorist peacekeeping and
demining capabilities as these countries continue in moving
beyond the Soviet era of military norms.
We also work in the areas of humanitarian assistance to
help to enhance the capacity of the local governments in
Central Asia, working closely with our partners in the State
Department, USAID and the NGO community. Humanitarian
assistance programs from the Department of Defense has included
such things as a deworming program for Kyrgyz citizens,
renovating schools and orphanages, donating buses and school
supplies, to name a few.
We also have regular high-level consultations, both on the
civilian and military side of the Department of Defense. Most
recently, General Mattos, the CENTCOM commander, was in Central
Asia, and he is still in the region as we speak. Our TRANSCOM
commander has also visited multiple times. The Department of
Defense joins in and supports and participates in the annual
bilateral consultations that Assistant Secretary Blake chairs.
We think that is a key effort in moving our relationships with
the Central Asian countries forward across the board.
Central Asia, as both you, Mr. Chairman, mentioned is part
of a larger region that includes Afghanistan and Pakistan. The
growth of the Northern Distribution Network offers the prospect
of a continuing economic and commercial foundation that will
help the growth and trade and investment across national
boundaries and holds the prospect of helping those countries
move into the mainstream of world trade and commerce.
While that is not the purpose of what we are doing at in
the northern distribution network, it holds the prospect of
doing that in the future.
I would like to close by echoing your comment, Mr.
Chairman, regarding the sacrifices of our men and women.
I was just in Afghanistan visiting many of our troops. They
depend on the goods and services that are provided through the
Northern Distribution Network through the partnership of our
Central Asian countries, and we are committed to continuing
that effort and expanding it in the future.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Sedney follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Faleomavaega. I appreciate your statements and
observations on some of the issues.
Because you have got a schedule problem, Secretary Sedney,
I had some things I wanted to check with you about.
I think it seems our policy toward Central Asia seems to be
focused entirely on our current efforts, and our involvement in
the war in Afghanistan, and so it is for security purposes
primarily. Am I correct on that?
Mr. Sedney. From a Department of Defense perspective, that
is our number one priority. In terms of our overall
relationships with Central Asia, they go much beyond the
security area. And as Assistant Secretary Blake laid out, we
have a wide range of enduring interests. I'll defer to
Assistant Secretary Blake to do that. But it is true, from the
Department of Defense perspective, that our focus is on the
support for the effort in Afghanistan, but that is accompanied
by the longer-termed security assistance projects and including
a variety of training efforts in areas from counterterrorism to
counternarcotics that are building capabilities in those
countries that are important for reasons well beyond
Afghanistan.
Mr. Faleomavaega. We all know that these countries were
formerly basically colonies of the Soviet Union for some 100
years before they got their freedoms and separated into
sovereign entities. And I know when we talk about Central Asia,
I would say 95 percent of the American people don't know where
it is located, simply because they have all been part of the
Soviet Empire. And there really has been hardly any engagement
process, economically, socially, or anything.
And I just wanted to know the latest problems that we are
faced with in our current policy. And I realize that our reason
for being in Afghanistan is to prevent the Taliban or al-Qaeda
from coming to our shores and killing our people. Is that
basically the reason we are fighting this war?
Mr. Sedney. Exactly, Mr. Chairman. As the President has
said, our national goal is to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-
Qaeda, and to prevent its return to safe havens in Afghanistan.
Mr. Faleomavaega. And in the process, we have only had a
real sense of expertise or even understanding of the region in
a very, very limited way. I say that maybe only 20 years or 30
years of experience of engagement with these countries that we
know very little about. Now, we can all claim expertise, but
this is the same problem we had when we got involved in
Vietnam. I would say that probably 99 percent of the American
people never knew that countries like Vietnam, Laos, and
Cambodia were colonies of the French. And the policies that we
enunciated, what we did, boy, it was a real jumble there
sending 500,000 of our soldiers, with 60,000 dead as a result.
And that policy can be debated to this day.
My concern is whether they have we learned any lessons from
Vietnam--whether sending the military is really going to solve
some of the more fundamental issues and problems that we face
in countries like Afghanistan, or even in Pakistan, for that
matter.
Mr. Sedney. In terms of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mr.
Chairman, I can assure you as we are working to achieve the
goals the President has laid out, our strategy is very much a
combined civil/military whole of government strategy. And both
in Afghanistan and Pakistan, our partnership with the
Department of State, the other agencies of the United States
Government, and the wider international community are key parts
of that. It is not just a military solution.
And I would point out to you that the Government of
Kazakhstan, for example, has made a major commitment to educate
a large number of Afghans in Kazakh universities, and it is
something we very much appreciate. It is a kind of thing that
is necessary as we move forward with the military effort and
bringing security in Afghanistan is key.
But the follow-on efforts to build capacity, to educate the
population, are vital to ensuring that Afghanistan does not
again become a safe haven. And the prospects for that require a
regional approach.
So we are working with the countries of Central Asia. The
countries of Central Asia recognize the need to work. I have
been visiting Central Asia and working on Central Asia for over
15 years, and every time I travel through the Central Asian
capitals, I find that the issue of helping Afghanistan succeed
is very high on the agenda, and the partnership we have with
those countries, even despite their limited resources, as
Assistant Secretary Blake said, the Government of Kazakhstan is
working with us in Afghanistan, and we look to continue to
increase that partnership.
Mr. Faleomavaega. I make this observation--and I never
claim expertise in military tactics--but I have also read
something to the effect that Afghanistan has been known as a
``graveyard for empires.'' Alexander the Great could never
conquer Afghanistan, and neither could the British. The Soviets
were there for 10 years. They got kicked out of Afghanistan.
So I am trying to get into the psychology of this whole
thing. There are 12 million Pashtuns who live in Afghanistan.
And within that 12 million population, we have about 100,000
soldiers in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban who are supposedly
our enemy.
But what makes it even more complicated is that at the so-
called borderline between Pakistan and Afghanistan, there are
27 million more Pashtuns who live in Pakistan. And I don't
think you have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why we
wouldn't get Osama bin Laden for all these years--simply
because of the Taliban being able to protect him. He travels
freely between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
And whatever failures in our policies, the most powerful
nation in the world could not even capture Osama bin Laden for
almost 10 years. So I am a little frustrated to the extent I
want to define exactly if we are going to put our men and women
in harm's way, I would like to believe that this is the only
option remaining for our country to do this and finding if
there could be any other options or any other possibilities,
and the involvement of these Asian countries that I have felt
in the years that I have had to travel to these countries, it
is a totally different psychology in how we look and say that
these 27,000 Taliban and a couple hundred al-Qaeda is the very
reason we are involved in this area.
And please, I am not putting any personal thing against
you. I just want to get a better understanding of what, $30
billion we are about to expend for having our military forces
in Afghanistan.
How does this relate to, in a broader picture, how we deal
with Central Asia? We are using these countries mainly to make
it more convenient for our security forces to get what they
need, resources, our soldiers and all of that. But is it just
that only, or are there programs on how we can better develop
an economic, social, educational, all of these things, that
these Central Asian countries really have a need for?
Mr. Sedney. Mr. Chairman, on Afghanistan there is a
fundamental difference between the empires that you mentioned
and the United States of America. We are not an Empire. We are
not seeking to conquer Afghanistan. We are working with
Afghanistan to build up an independent, sovereign Afghanistan,
and sufficient security forces for Afghanistan to be able to
protect itself, defend its sovereignty and prevent itself from
becoming a safe haven for the Taliban--for al-Qaeda as it was
before September 11, 2001.
To that end, the key focus of our effort in Afghanistan is
building up the Afghan security forces, the Afghan National
Army. Over the last year we have had extraordinary success in
building up the Afghan National Army. In the recent military
operations around Kandahar, over 60 percent of the forces have
been Afghan national army forces, a sharp increase, even from
the operations in Helmand earlier this year.
As President Obama has said, the United States is going to
start a transition in the summer of 2011, and as President
Karzai has said the objective is to have Afghan forces in the
lead in the security area in all areas of Afghanistan by 2014.
We are committed to that. We are not building an empire. We are
working with our partners.
You made some points about the Pashtuns. I have worked in
Afghanistan for many years. I have worked on Afghanistan. I
have many, many close friends and colleagues who are Pashtuns.
There are many Pashtuns in the Afghan national army. According
to both anecdotal and polling evidence, over 90 percent of
Pashtuns do not want the Taliban to rule them.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Please restate that again because most of
the American people don't know this.
Mr. Sedney. Over 90 percent of the Pashtuns don't want the
Taliban to rule them. Pashtuns, from President Karzai, who is a
Pashtun, to Minister Wardak who is a Pashtun, and the Minister
of Defense throughout the Afghan Government, to Governor Weesa
of Kandahar, who I just met a couple of weeks ago down in
Kandahar, these are Pashtuns who are putting their lives on the
line, the lives of their family, the lives of their children,
because they know what the Taliban will bring back is
oppression to Afghanistan and terrorism behind it.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Would it be safe to say that, as far as
the Department of Defense is concerned, the involvement of
these Central Asian countries is very, very critical?
Mr. Sedney. To the success of our operation as you said,
sir, and thank you for saying, is very critical to the success
of our operations to defend the American homeland.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Mr. Sedney, I know you have a schedule,
so if you need to leave.
Mr. Sedney. I apologize for that. I can stay for another 10
minutes.
Ambassador Blake. Mr. Chairman, let me just jump in on your
question of are we only focusing on Afghanistan. I would just
like to assure you that that is really not the case. As I say,
the purpose of these annual bilateral consultations that we set
up is to engage each of these countries on the full range of
interests--on both our agenda and on their agenda--and to do so
in a very comprehensive way and in a very practical way to set
concrete targets for moving and making progress.
So with each of these countries we have 2 days of talks.
You know, that is basically over 16 hours of talks that goes
through every single thing in our agenda and very, very
practically oriented.
The other thing we are doing, Mr. Chairman, is we are
setting up civil society and business components to these as
well. So that to the maximum extent possible, our government-
to-government talks are informed by the American people and our
various constituents who care about these issues.
The other point I want to make, Mr. Chairman, is the
Central Asians themselves welcome this increased engagement by
the United States. As you say, the Russians have always had the
predominant influence in Central Asia, but that's beginning to
change. And I think with this reset of relations between the
United States and Russia, that has opened up a little bit of
space for the Central Asians to do more with us as well. They
have really jumped into that space and I think have welcomed
that engagement.
I would also like to say the Russians themselves have
welcomed a greater U.S. engagement. I think one of the real
hallmarks of our efforts over the last year has been improved
cooperation and coordination with the Russians, and you saw
that in Kyrgyzstan, but you are going to see that more on
things like counternarcotics and indeed in Afghanistan.
Mr. Faleomavaega. One critical area in my experience in
visiting and meeting with leaders of these Central Asian
countries, Mr. Secretary, is education. We currently have in
the United States 690,000 foreign students attending American
colleges and universities. And I am curious how many students
attend American colleges and universities from Central Asia at
this point in time?
Ambassador Blake. I don't have the figure off the top of my
head but it is small.
Mr. Faleomavaega. I hope my good friend from Illinois will
take note of this, is that if it is their intention to cut the
budget on our foreign assistance program, this is one area that
I sincerely hope--to me, in my discussions with the leaders of
these Central Asian countries, Mr. Secretary, I always believe
that education is the salvation of these people and their
leaders. And if they are limited in their capacity to provide a
young generation of up-and-coming members of these different
countries to come to our country, get a good education, then I
think we are going to be in for a long haul. And I really
believe it is the kind of investment that I always feel the
greatest contributions that the United States can give and
share with the good people of these countries is educational
opportunities for these young people.
Ambassador Blake. I couldn't agree with you more, Mr.
Chairman. I think part of the reason--there are several reasons
there aren't more Central Asians. First of all, there is the
language barrier where many of them don't speak sufficiently
good English to be able to compete and qualify for American
universities. Also there is, of course, the distance, and it is
expensive to travel and to go to school in the United States.
But also, in some cases, there are restrictions on the
ability of people to travel in places like Turkmenistan, and we
are working with those governments.
But we are also working inside these countries, Mr.
Chairman, to expand English language training, because we think
that is something has a huge and broad positive impact across
the entire relationship. We are also working on programs like
FLEX that provide more high school students with an opportunity
to go to the United States for shorter periods of time, be
exposed to the United States.
And we are helping to develop English language universities
inside Central Asia. A very good example of that is in
Kazakhstan where there is a new full-time English language
Kazakh university that has been set up, and it has cooperation
with I think seven different American universities right now.
So that is another terrific way to sort of build the
American educational ties and eventually expose those students
to our way of thinking, and also hopefully encourage them to do
more studying in the United States.
Mr. Faleomavaega. And especially also, given the fact that
we only established diplomatic relations with these countries
in the last 20 years. So it is an entirely different challenge,
not only for the State Department, but even for the American
people to understand. And we should know that so many great
civilizations have come from this region--in fact, when I first
met Ambassador Kanat Sadarbayav he thought I was a Kazakh. I
said no, I am not a Kazakh. I am a Polynesian. Whatever that
means. Some idiot defined us as Polynesians, and supposedly we
come from many islands.
I want to say that my given experience and being exposed
and having to travel to these countries, I couldn't find people
more caring and more interested and wanting to know more about
America. They have tremendous potential for mineral resources
contained, but they don't have the technology, the ability to
transition themselves from being Communists. And sometimes I
think some of our own colleagues in the United States demand
that these people have to be full democracies like America.
It took us over 150 years to give African Americans the
right to vote, and yet we expect these countries to be right up
to par with what democracy should be. I have always said I
think we need to be a little more circumspect about the
difficulties that these people are confronted with.
The situation in Tajikistan. I know there has always been a
little rivalry between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. One has
electricity and the other one has the water. Are we trying to
make any efforts to resolve this problem which always seems to
be--I would think that with our resources, we should be able to
give assistance.
Can you comment on this?
Ambassador Blake. Sure, we are making quiet efforts, Mr.
Chairman. I would say one the biggest differences between those
two countries is on this issue of water, and specifically, on
the question of the Rogun hydroelectric facility in Tajikistan,
which the Uzbeks have a great many concerns about. They are
fearful that this is going to be built in a seismically active
zone. As a downstream country they are worried about potential
arbitrary actions by Tajikistan that cut off their water.
So we have supported an effort by the World Bank to
undertake a feasibility study of this. To do it in a very fair
and balanced way, to look at all these different equities, and
to make some recommendations about how to move forward on this.
And I think the World Bank has a lot of very good experience in
this area. As you know, they have been very active in the whole
water area as well between India and Pakistan. They run the
dispute resolution mechanism that has been successful for 50
years. So I think their experience will be very valuable in
helping to find a way forward on this.
Mr. Faleomavaega. I made the emphasis in my statement about
our involvement. And it appears to be the most progressive in
terms of its advancements in so many areas now, and the
leadership and all that they have done. And I realize at times
it gets to be a little competitive in wanting to know who is
better than the other. But my sincere apologies, I just was not
able to visit Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. One thing that I
know with interest is the fact that there is no such thing as
an Afghan. There are a couple of million Tajiks living in
Afghanistan and about 3 million or 4 million Uzbeks living in
Afghanistan.
Ambassador Blake. And Turkmen.
Mr. Faleomavaega. So this is what complicates what we are
faced with in Afghanistan: There is no such thing as an Afghan.
Pashtuns make up about 40, 45 percent of the entire population.
So there is that complication to deal with.
Do the border lines between these Central Asian countries
with Afghanistan cause any problems?
Ambassador Blake. You mean, are there border disputes? No.
Mr. Faleomavaega. So the borders are very porous? I mean,
they travel all the time?
Ambassador Blake. They do, and that's one of our very key
priorities is to work on, to enhance border security between
those countries. David, if you want to----
Mr. Sedney. We have a number of programs working with
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on border security. And
we appreciate very much the continued willingness of the
Congress to appropriate money for those programs. The progress
that those countries have made in border security over the last
several years is important. However, the continuing efforts by
the Taliban, the al-Qaeda and other extremist movements to
mount operations across that border is something of a great
concern to us when we are working with those countries to
ensure that we cooperate along that border, along with the
Afghan forces.
Mr. Faleomavaega. You know what my dream is, gentleman, I
just wish that perhaps even 1 billion out of that 130 billion
that we are giving to do our military operations goes into all
aspects of education and social programs for the Central Asia
countries. You are talking about a population of about 65
million people total, and yet, the potential that is there, I
just wish that there were resources that we could provide as a
long-term investment, as a partnership.
As you mentioned, Turkmenistan currently has the fourth
largest reserves of natural gas. And I know these countries are
filthy rich with minerals. And in all of this, I always say
Central Asia is going to be another Middle East in years to
come when these resources will become limited, oil, gas. They
have it, and I sincerely hope that with our technology and
programs, that the better-educated societies in these Central
Asian countries, I think, will be a big help and something that
certainly we can be proud of in our working closely with the
leaders of these countries.
Ambassador Blake. Mr. Chairman, may I just----
Mr. Faleomavaega. Please.
Ambassador Blake. My helpful staff here has just given me
the exact figure of the numbers of the people who are studying.
The largest number you would not be surprised to learn is from
Kazakhstan, 1,936 students are studying in the United States;
Kyrgyzstan has 274; Tajikistan, 288; Turkmenistan, 195; and
Uzbekistan, 513. Obviously, we would like to do a lot more.
Mr. Faleomavaega. I deeply appreciate that.
Ambassador Blake. But I can tell you, the Secretary of
State and also our Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Judith
McHale, very committed to this education piece, and really want
to do much more. And this is something that is a high priority
for us in Central Asia.
Mr. Faleomavaega. I realize there are 1.3 billion people
living in China and they say 100,000 students from China
currently attend American universities.
Ambassador Blake. It is more now, it is 124,000.
Mr. Faleomavaega. It is 124,000, and India is right next to
it with nearly 100,000.
Ambassador Blake. A little more, yeah.
Mr. Secretary, Mr. Sedney.
Mr. Sedney. I apologize, Mr. Chairman, Representative
Manzullo, that I have to leave. I very much appreciate the
opportunity to speak before you and look forward to the
opportunity to do so again in the future. And it has been a
very useful and educational experience for me as it always is
when I come over to Capitol Hill. So again, I appreciate that
and my personal apologies for having to leave.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Well, I want to say that we deeply
appreciate the services that you give to our country, Mr.
Secretary. And we hope you will continue the good work for the
American people. We appreciate it very. I have a couple more
questions of Secretary Blake, so just make sure to keep an eye
on our backs, okay?
Secretary Blake, I had mentioned in my statement about the
importance of the summit. I will say again how much I deeply
appreciate the administration's support and endorsement for
having this summit to begin with. Something not only as a
credit to you and Secretary Clinton, but especially also a
credit to President Nazarbayev. And I think more than anything,
if there is a sense of recognition to the world, to our country
with the current problems that we are involved with in
Afghanistan, how important Central Asia is. And so we must
never forsake our being negligent in our efforts in dealing
with the good people that live in these countries.
Over the years, because I come from the other side of the
world, I have been very critical of our policies toward the
Pacific--which is zero, except for New Zealand and Australia.
The 16 other Pacific Island countries always seemed like they
don't exist. And I give that sense of concern because, as I
said, the public and the American people are not very much
aware of Central Asia or the fact that these people have just
come out from under the yoke of communism, and they are
struggling, as you are well aware.
And I sincerely hope that with the resources and the
opportunities and the things that America can offer, the good
people, the 65 million people living in these countries, that
we should share the benefit and the resources that we have in
such a way that Central Asia continues to grow and its
countries become the kind of democracies that the people and
the leaders there would like to have.
Ambassador Blake. Mr. Chairman, let me just comment on that
briefly, let me say that I couldn't agree with you more. And I
think that the fact that Kazakhstan will be the first country
east of Vienna to ever host an OSCE summit is, in itself, a
milestone for Kazakhstan and for Central Asia. And I think it
will do a lot to publicize some of the important things that
are happening in Central Asia, just the existence of this, and
the fact that so many world leaders will be converging on
Kazakhstan in early December.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Unfortunately, I would hazard a guess
that the vast majority of the American people do not know what
the OSCE is. And for the record could you elaborate a little
more, Mr. Secretary, as some kind of an organization that deals
with security in Europe, or something like that, involving some
56 countries of which Kazakhstan is a member of.
Ambassador Blake. That is right.
Mr. Faleomavaega. And I would like to ask you if you could
elaborate for the record, what is the OSCE? And what does this
have to do with America?
Ambassador Blake. Well, the United States has been one of
those countries that, as you said, has been working actively
with the OSCE for many, many years on all of the pillars that
the OSCE works on. The OSCE has played a particularly important
role recently in Central Asia, as I said, where they have been
real leaders in working with the United States, with the
European Union, with Russia, to help first to organize these
very important elections. Around the Central Asia space, they
are very active in helping all of these countries to organize
elections, and then try to make sure that they conform to OSCE
standards and help them provide in a technical capacity to do
that.
But they have also been very active in other ways in
Kyrgyzstan. I mentioned this International Commission. The OSCE
played an active role in that to help to organize that
Commission, to help investigate the crimes and the murders that
took place there in southern Kyrgyzstan.
And then the OSCE now has been involved in helping to
improve the police to upgrade their forces there to introduce
community policing, to have an ethnic Uzbek component to that.
So that the police forces themselves enjoy the trust of the
people, and the confidence of the people which, as you know, is
so important and very important we have learned here in our own
country.
So I think those are some of the examples of the very
practical and important ways of the OSCE. It is not simply a
talk shop, they are doing very important work on the ground in
many of these countries.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Well, Mr. Secretary, again, I want to
thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to come
and testify at the last subcommittee hearing I will chair. I am
about to terminate my services as chairman. And I will say, for
the record, it has been my privilege to work with your office,
and with you closely in discussing some of these issues that
are important to the needs of the good people of Central Asia.
My deepest regrets, and the problem is I make too many
presumptions. I just presumed that we were going to continue
being in the majority. But the American people have spoken
otherwise. So this is how our democracy operates and I look
forward to working with our chairman-to-be. I don't even know
how they are going to reorganize the committee. We may have
fewer subcommittees, but that is their prerogative in being the
majority party in the House, and we will respect that.
And we will just have to see what adjustments we need to
make in the coming weeks. But again, Mr. Secretary, thank you
so much for all that you do for our country and what you do for
the good people of Central Asia. And if you have any questions
or any more thoughts, I am about to hit the gavel if I can find
it.
Ambassador Blake. Let me just, in conclusion, thank you
again for your leadership, Mr. Chairman, and to say that just
because you are moving into the minority doesn't excuse you
from continuing to----
Mr. Faleomavaega. Well, I am used to being in the minority,
so a minority within a minority. How does that sound?
Ambassador Blake. And I hope that means we can get you out
to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Mr. Faleomavaega. I hope someday to take my cousins like
Troy Polamalu and Jesse Sapolu, and Ma'ake Kemoeatu playing for
the Redskins, who lost to the Eagles, a couple days ago,
whatever. Tremendous athletes, athletic potential that we have
there among the Central Asian countries. Our first love where I
come from is rugby. I just hosted one of the rugby icons of the
world, Michael Jones, one of the most famous rugby players from
the New Zealand All Blacks. He was just here a couple days ago.
And nothing like having good sports to promote friendship.
Central Asian countries produce good wrestlers.
Ambassador Blake. They do.
Mr. Faleomavaega. And I have learned also how to appreciate
how to prepare horse meat for breakfast, for lunch and for
dinner. You wouldn't even know it is horse meat. But it is
delicious, you should try it, Mr. Secretary.
Ambassador Blake. Oh, I have had it, I have had it.
Mr. Faleomavaega. Yeah, I love it. But I will say, Mr.
Secretary. I have a very, very strong affection for the people
of Central Asia, and I, again, commend you for all that you do
for them. And I sincerely hope that our Government and the
American people will show that we are a hospitable people too,
if given the opportunity, and sharing with them our resources
in such a way that our communities will mutually benefit.
Again, Mr. Secretary, thank you.
The meeting is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:50 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
Material Submitted for the Hearing Record Notice
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Letter to President Obama
Material Submitted for the Record by the Honorable Eni F.H.
Faleomavaega, a Representative in Congress from American Samoa
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Letter to Secretary Rice
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Watson statement
__________
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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