The More Things Change, the More Kazakhstan Stays Important

Now that relations between the United States and Pakistan are souring, Washington may once again turn to Kazakhstan to serve its strategic needs in the region. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday during a visit to the White House, an early stop on a three-day tour of the United States. (The trip will also include a visit to U.N. headquarters in New York, since Kazakhstan assumes the rotating U.N. Security Council presidency this year.) But even if Kazakhstan's prominence on the international stage remains the same, plenty of change awaits the country and its longtime leader on the domestic front....