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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/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, New York 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

LYNN WOOLSEY, California 

SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas 

BARBARA LEE, California 

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 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

RON PAUL, Texas 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

BOB INGLIS, South Carolina 

GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

YLEEM POBLETE, Republican Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa, Chairman 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois 

BOB INGLIS, South Carolina 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

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

(1)

THE EMERGING IMPORTANCE OF THE U.S.–

CENTRAL ASIA PARTNERSHIP 

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 

2

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 61⁄2 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 disVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:38 Dec 27, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\APGE\111710\62400 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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mantled 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 

4

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 

5

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:]

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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, 


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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. 

11

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 

12

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:]

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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 


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22

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. 

23

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:]

24


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25


62400b-2.eps
26


62400b-3.eps
27

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. 


62400b-4.eps 62400b-5.eps
28

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. 

29

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 

30

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 

31

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 

32

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 

33

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 

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sources 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 

35

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 conVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:38 Dec 27, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\APGE\111710\62400 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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fidence 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 

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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.] 

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A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

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MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY THE HONORABLE ENI F.H. 

FALEOMAVAEGA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM AMERICAN SAMOA


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Æ


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