Erkin Oncan
Once again, Washington is weaponizing the language of values - and the target is Russia's near abroad and Central Asia's strategic resources.
The United States has once again activated its familiar instruments of intervention in Central Asia. This time, the banner being raised is a familiar one: "religious freedom." The latest report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) calls for sanctions against Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, while also recommending that Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan be placed on a special watch list.
However, anyone who closely follows international politics knows that such reports issued by Washington are often less about humanitarian concerns and more about geopolitical engineering.
Today's Central Asia is far from an ordinary region. It has become one of the most strategic areas of the 21st century due to its energy corridors, natural gas reserves, uranium, rare earth elements, and critical mineral resources. Located at the heart of the struggle for influence among Russia, China, and the West, it is hardly a coincidence that Washington has chosen to foreground the language of "rights."
The real issue is the United States' attempt to place regional governments under political pressure and pull them into its own orbit.
The language used regarding Tajikistan is especially telling. The U.S. report accuses Dushanbe of controlling religious activity under the pretext of "countering extremism." Yet a closer look at the region's recent history makes the reasoning behind these security measures entirely clear. Its proximity to the Afghan border, repeated infiltration attempts by radical groups, and the security threats that have persisted since the 1990s have compelled Tajikistan to maintain strict state oversight.
The criticism directed at Turkmenistan must be read in the same context. Ashgabat's tight regulation of independent religious activity is not merely, as Western media portray it, a question of "authoritarianism," but rather a deliberate strategy aimed at preserving state sovereignty and internal stability.
Washington, as always, chooses to ignore these realities.
The United States' use of human rights and religious freedom as instruments of foreign policy pressure is nothing new. From Yugoslavia to Iraq, from Libya to Syria, the pattern has been repeated countless times: first come reports on "rights violations," followed by diplomatic pressure, sanctions, and political intervention.
The file now being prepared for Central Asia is simply a new version of the same template.
In pro-Russian circles, these developments are widely seen as a new Western attempt to penetrate the post-Soviet space. For Moscow, Central Asia remains vital due to its historical ties, economic integration, and collective security mechanisms.
At this point, it is necessary to recall the Soviet legacy.
During the Soviet era, Central Asia was largely shielded from sectarian conflict and externally sponsored radical networks. Through public secularism, centralized planning, and strong state institutions, the region maintained long-term stability. In terms of education, infrastructure, and social modernization, the Soviet period laid the foundations for many of the institutions that still exist today.
Many of the security reflexes now criticized by the West are, in fact, a continuation of this historical state tradition.
The United States, meanwhile, seeks to weaken this state capacity and discipline regional governments through economic sanctions. The explicit recommendation that "trade relations be linked to progress in religious freedom" makes this objective unmistakably clear.
In diplomatic language, this amounts to blackmail.
Washington's message is straightforward: either accept our political norms, or face sanctions, economic pressure, and international delegitimization.
From a Russian perspective, this is not merely a debate about religious freedom; it is a new attempt by the United States to penetrate Russia's historical sphere of influence from another front. From the Ukraine crisis to developments in the Caucasus, the expanding line of pressure now appears to be extending further into Central Asia.
Ultimately, the discourse of "religious freedom" here functions less as a humanitarian principle and more as a new geopolitical lever of American imperialism.
Once again, Washington is weaponizing the language of values - and the target is Russia's near abroad and Central Asia's strategic resources.