U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attempt to show that Washington can be a reliable partner to countries in Central Asia on a visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan next week, the to State Department official for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu, told reporters on Friday.
Blinken's visit to the two former Soviet republics, ahead of a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in New Delhi, comes as the United States continues to rally the world to oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine that began a year ago.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Ismail Shakil)