Only two of the five Central Asian leaders have confirmed their attendance for a major summit with US President Donald Trump, casting a degree of uncertainty over the November 6 event.
The presidents of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are in, according to their offices. However, the leaders of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have not yet confirmed, nor has the White House officially commented.
This cautious approach from three of the “Stans” reflects the complex geopolitical pressures they face, caught between their powerful neighbors, Russia and China, and new overtures from the West.
The summit is part of a wider “scramble for influence” in the resource-rich region, which has intensified since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US is the latest power to court the C5, following similar high-level meetings with the EU, China, and Russia earlier this year.