US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday Kazakhstan would remain a linchpin of US policy in Central Asia amid security challenges around the region from Georgia to Afghanistan.
Rice made the comments ahead of talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has taken a cautious path between resurgent former master Moscow and newer partners such as the United States and China.
"Kazakhstan is a country that has excellent relations with all of its neighbours," Rice said at the start of her visit to the Kazakh capital Astana.
"It has excellent relations with the United States. We've talked about the relations that are developing with Europe, which are also very important," she told a joint press conference with Kazakh Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin.
The show of US support came as analysts see Russia pressuring its neighbours to take a more pro-Moscow line following a Russian military surge into Georgia in August.
Rice's Kazakh counterpart stressed Kazakhstan would remain friendly with all parties interested in this strategic oil-rich state, which borders Russia and China and lies close to Afghanistan to the south. "We have excellent contacts with Russia. The United States is also a strategic partner," Tazhin said.
Kazakhstan has voiced some support for Russia's military incursion into Georgia but stopped short of joining Moscow in recognising the independence of the two Georgian separatist regions at the heart of August's conflict.
As she travelled to Astana from New Delhi, Rice rejected any suggestion Kazakhstan should be part of Russia's sphere of influence just as she has rejected the idea that Georgia should be under Russian sway. "We don't see any of this as a zero-sum game," Rice said.
"We don't see and don't accept any notion of a special sphere of influence and so we look forward to continue to building our relationship with Kazakhstan," Rice said.
Later, in the Kazakh capital, she said: "This is not some kind of contest for the affection of Kazakhstan." During her talks here, Rice said she discussed "economic relations, trade relations, energy relations based on all transparent relations, many of them commercial relations between companies."
A nation of 15 million, Kazakhstan has the highest proven oil reserves anywhere in the Caspian region and is regarded as one of the most important potential sources of new crude oil supplies to Asian and Western markets. And while Kazakhstan's democratic credentials leave much to be desired, the country has impressed with its economic reforms.
Rice stressed the importance of reform as Kazakhstan prepares to take on the chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a key democracy promoting body. "We are looking forward to discussing with Kazakhstan the issues concerning its OSCE chairmanship in 2010 and the importance of meeting its commitments on political reform and human rights," Rice said.
On being awarded the OSCE presidency for 2010, Kazakhstan promised to liberalise laws on media and political parties and to improve its electoral system by the end of 2008. Rice said she would also discuss how Kazakhstan could boost economic links with war-torn Afghanistan, which she stressed must integrate with the economies of Central Asia to become stable and prosperous.
At the UN General Assembly in New York late last month Rice also met with Tazhin to discuss ways to stabilise Afghanistan, where tens of thousands of US and Nato troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban. "We talked about some of Kazakhstan's interests in infrastructure and energy projects in Afghanistan," Rice said.
"Obviously Afghanistan is still just emerging in terms of its reconstruction programmes, but I do think Afghanistan and Kazakhstan could have quite an important set of ties along infrastructure and energy lines," Rice said.
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