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Abstract: The largest country in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, has been an independent, democratic state for only 8 years. Currently, the country is in a catastrophic economic crisis. Funds are lacking for everything from baby formula for infants to pensions for the elderly. The envoys of the current president regularly travel to Washington to request credits and grants. But Kazakhstani democrats expect a different kind of aid from the US -- a form of aid that would benefit not only Kazakhstan, but the other newly independent Central Asian states as well. The people of Central Asia do indeed need the basic means to exist, but what they need most of all is the ability to earn these means within the framework of the global economy.