The U.S. National Interest and Strategy inCentral Asia

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia has achieved a serious attention of theworld great powers especially the U.S. However, Central Asia was mentioned in the pastunder the “Heartland” and “Geo strategic” region. With addition of geo economic aspects,Central Asia has now turned to a major geo strategic and geo economic region.This region has shared borders with Russia, China, Iran and Afghanistan. The conversion ofCentral Asia to an intervention region for any power brings along the control of neighboringcountries which is very important as regards military and security aspects. On the other hand,the Caspian Sea is located on the west side of this region which ranks the second position ofoil reservoirs in the world.In addition to owning large reservoirs as well as natural resources, this region is situatedin a pivotal location which is a bridge connecting the East to the West and in particular the farEast to the near East.This article will review the U.S. national interests in Central Asia and analyze differentstrategies taken in this regard.