The West will keep Kazakhstan for oil in case of a deal with Islamists: Volkov

In case of making a geopolitical deal, the U.S. will keep Kazakhstan, north Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan may be farmed out to Islamists, Tengrinews.kz reports citing an expert on geopolitical problems of Central Asia and observer of the German Wave Radio Vitaliy Volkov as saying at the press-conference in Almaty. “Certain political circles, special services and militarymen in the U.S. think that it is easier to make peace with Islamists than to fight them. It is not the first time that this opinion arises. This scenario means division of areas of influence. Imagine a geopolitical deal for example: the U.S. keeps north Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, because there is oil, gas and polymetals in these countries, and leaves the other countries, such as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, to Islamists, so that they stay away from Europe, the U.S. and their strategic partners,” Volkov said. According to Volkov, until now heads of Central Asian countries were counting on the West and Russia to support them in any geopolitical situation just because they are waging the war against Islamists. “Once Western politicians start looking for ways to make peace with successors of bin Laden (which is currently happening in Libya, according to many observers), the position of Central Asian leaders will immediately change and they may be left without the support that they have had,” the expert said. By Zhuldyz Seisenbekova