Vice President JD Vance’s trip this month to the Caucasus, a strategic region between the Black Sea and the Caspian, connecting Europe and Asia, and bordering Russia, Iran, and Turkey, represents a striking demonstration of the administration’s growing commitment to an enduring and large-scale presence there. Similarly, the recent visit of Central Asian presidents to Washington for the November 2025 C5+1 meetings with the U.S. and their representation at the founding meeting of the U.S. Project Vault initiative to compete with China for access to and control over critical materials underscore Washington’s determination to play a significant role in Central Asia. Moreover, in both regions, local governments are enthusiastically welcoming this new American policy, which aims to engage the Caucasus and Central Asia through long-term business and economic projects.
In Baku, Vance and Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev signed a historic bilateral Charter on Strategic Partnership, formalizing a wide range of economic and strategic cooperation. Both sides will engageon regional connectivity and mutual investment to include the transcontinental trade route, the Middle Corridor from China to Europe, the Trump Road for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) that links Azerbaijan to Armenia and Turkey, and bilateral expansion of their oil, gas, electricity, space, digital, cyber, and AI sectors. Furthermore, Washington will work with Bakuon cybersecurity, demining, protection of critical infrastructure, technology transfer, and anti-terrorism. Beyond these areas of cooperation, Washington is sending Azerbaijan an undisclosed number of coastal vessels for defense in the Caspian Sea, thereby formalizing bilateral defense cooperation.
In Armenia, Vance announced a new $9 billion civilian nuclear cooperation agreement that will permit the latter to overhaul or decommission its Soviet-era reactor at Metsamor. The new agreement allows Washington to license nuclear technology and equipment to Armenia, providing longer-term fuel and maintenance contracts. Politically, this deal frees Armenia from its previous dependence on Moscow’s Rosatom for nuclear energy. Vance also announced the transfer of $11 million in reconnaissance drone technology to Armenia and proclaimed U.S. readiness to export advanced computer chips to Armenia and invest in its infrastructure. In addition, as the U.S.-brokered peace treaty between these states takes hold, Azerbaijan is now also supplying energy and Russian wheat to Armenia as part of the peace agenda fostered by the Trump administration.
“The times, they are a-changin’.” A lasting American economic and security presence comes at Russia’s expense. Moscow’s declining leverage over these states stems from the self-induced quagmire Russia jumped into through its war against Ukraine, as well as from the failures of its regional policies in the Caucasus, which became clear when Azerbaijan pushed aside Moscow’s hegemony during the Azeri-Armenian wars of 2020 and 2023. Azerbaijan won, allowing it to regain the long-disputed territory of Karabakh. Thus, Armenia’s government now seeks affiliation with the EU and is pursuing democratization, much to Moscow’s discomfiture. Indeed, Russia supported attempted coups against the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan government in 2024 and 2025. And for now, Moscow is apparently unable to stop or reverse the American-Turkish offensive against its imperial ambitions in the South Caucasus.
Similar trends are taking place in Central Asia, where the Trump administration is leading the long-term, large-scale programs cited above to help regional governments avoid subordination to either Moscow or Beijing.
Congress can and should support these initiatives, which strengthen U.S. influence, increase the sovereignty of local governments, and foster peace and prosperity in Eurasia while checking Russo-Chinese ambitions. Specifically, Congress should pass legislation abolishing Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act of 1993, which bans aid to Azerbaijan unless the Office of the President issues or extends waivers. This legislation, passed in 1992 during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the behest of the U.S. Armenian lobby, has become irrelevant and today is counterproductive. Signing of a Strategic Partnership Charter between the United States and Azerbaijan leaves Section 907 as a legislative obstacle for U.S. foreign policy. The war is over, and the opportunities expressed in the TRIPP and Vance’s visit should motivate Congress to seize the moment to advance not only American but also Armenian and Azerbaijani interests in enduring peace and robust, thriving ties with the U.S.
Similarly, Congress should repeal the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which applies to non-market economies that block the emigration of their citizens. This amendment was originally put in place to impede trade with the Soviet Union, which was refusing its Jewish citizens the ability to emigrate and punishing them for applying. Fifty-two years later, there is no USSR, and Jewish emigration is free. However, as long as this legislation is on the books, it constitutes a serious obstacle to U.S. trade and investment with the Central Asian states. Indeed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently called for the abolition of Jackson-Vanik. Since legislation to that end is currently before the Senate, it should act promptly to terminate both this Amendment and Section 907, thus opening the pathway to mutually beneficial economic and geopolitical relations between the U.S. and the governments of both regions. Such opportunities are rare in international affairs. U.S. legislators should act quickly to seize the momentum and remove legislative roadblocks, thereby allowing diplomatic and trade relations with Eurasian countries to flourish in the great strategic game America is playing.