ANALYSIS: Astana is becoming Central Asia's security capital
ANALYSIS: Astana is becoming Central Asia's security capital
This week Astana hosted a gathering that would have been hard to imagine a few years ago: the King of Jordan, the presidents of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, all in the Kazakh capital for the Aqaba Process summit on November 5-6.
The Aqaba Process is Jordan's initiative, launched by King Abdullah II in 2015, to coordinate the fight against terrorism and extremism. Bringing it to Astana is a statement. Central Asia's leaders are no longer just recipients of security help from outside powers. They are convening the table themselves, and inviting the Middle East to sit at it.
For Kazakhstan, the logic is clear. President Tokayev has built his foreign policy on multi-vector diplomacy, keeping ties open to Russia, China, the West and now the Middle East. Hosting the Aqaba summit, and exchanging high state honours with the Jordanian king, puts Astana at the centre of a new security conversation that runs from the Gulf to the steppe.
The substance matters too. Central Asia faces real threats: militant networks across the Afghan border, radicalisation at home, and the spillover from wars further west. The Aqaba format offers intelligence sharing and coordination without the baggage of the old Russian-led security structures, which is exactly why it appeals to leaders who want options.
What to watch: whether the summit produces a joint statement or concrete commitments on intelligence sharing, and whether the Aqaba format becomes a regular fixture in Astana. If it does, Kazakhstan will have added a Middle Eastern pillar to a diplomacy that already spans Moscow, Beijing and Brussels.
#Kazakhstan #Analysis