Nursultan Nazarbaev met on September 30 with visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried in Astana. The U.S. official, on his first official visit to the region, arrived in Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and discussed bilateral economic and security cooperation with the Kazakh president. Although Washington remains concerned over the preparations for Kazakhstan’s December presidential election, in which Nazarbaev is seeking a further presidential term, the visit is intended to strengthen bilateral ties in the wake of the forced withdrawal of U.S. troops from the coalition air base in neighboring Uzbekistan (RFE-RL 10/3).