Kazakh ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev made a video address after a noticeable absence during the protests and riots of early January (RFE/RL, The Diplomat, Xinhuanet). In his address, Nazarbayev denied that there is any conflict between him and the current president Kassym Jomart Tokayev, that Tokayev holds on official power since 2019, and that the instigators of the riots will be found and tried. The former statement is particularly intriguing because multiple relatives and allies of Nazarbayev lost government jobs this past week, and rumors of a power struggle swirl in Kazakhstan (RFE/RL).
While Kazakhstan is slowly recovering from the chaotic situation of early January, a train with 1300 metric tons of corn arrived in China from Kazakhstan (HSN). Agricultural products make a notable portion of the export products in Kazakhstan, alongside petroleum, oil, and Uranium. The growing Chinese demand for food imports has created an attractive business opportunity for Kazakh farmers.
As a harsh winter hits Afghanistan, the UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres called on the international community to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in the country (NHK, CGTN). Guterres stressed that time is of the essence, and proposed that foreign assets should be unfrozen as an emergency relief measure. The Taliban government has had trouble balancing the books ever since it took over Afghanistan, and the situation grows direr despite a modicum of foreign aid still trickling in. Indeed, there are reports that some destitute afghani citizens have turned to selling their own organs to buy food and other necessities (SCMP). Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly backed the General Secretary and also called on US President Biden to unfreeze Afghanistan's assets (Hindustan Times).