US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, from second left, Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump attend a dinner with leaders from countries in Central Asia, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo)

US President Donald Trump hosted the leaders of five Central Asian nations at the White House on Thursday, calling critical minerals a “key priority” and pledging to strengthen America’s economic and strategic partnership with the resource-rich region, Reuters reported. The meeting with the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan marked a renewed US push to expand its influence in Central Asia: an area long seen as within Moscow’s sphere and now increasingly courted by Beijing.

Trump described Central Asia as “an extremely

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