Rubio traveled to Uzbekistan and India amid questions over his role
What's new: The trip focuses on economic and security ties with Central and South Asia, not the Middle East or the Russia-Ukraine war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Uzbekistan on Oct. 18 for meetings with Central Asian officials and is due to continue to India, in a trip the Trump administration cast as a push to deepen U.S. economic and security ties. The visit comes as critics question why Rubio has kept a lower public profile on hotter crises, including Iran, Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war. In Samarkand, Rubio was set to meet the C5+1 group of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Rubio told reporters before leaving Washington that the timing was driven by when regional delegations could meet and argued secretaries of state should make “strategic visits” beyond crisis zones.