Withdrawal of intl forces from Afghanistan will not be a catastrophe for Central Asia - Nazarbayev
ASTANA. April 25 (Interfax) - Afghanistan will not start to pose a threat to Central Asia after 2014, when the international coalition forces leave the country, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
"I am convinced that it will not entail any catastrophe for our region, although there are people who try to intimidate us with such scenarios," Nazarbayev said at a Eurasian media forum in Astana on Thursday.
"Someone does not see, or, refuses to see the changed realities of our region," he said.
"Central Asia is no longer a God-forgotten no man's land. Rather, it is a new rapidly developing sub-region in all of Eurasia and the world as a whole. Kazakhstan and other states located there have already proven that they are capable of sovereign and worthy development," the president said.