The Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process was established to provide a platform to discuss regional issues, particularly encouraging security, political, and economic cooperation among Afghanistan and its neighbors. This region-led dialogue was launched in November 2011 to expand practical coordination between Afghanistan and its neighbors and regional partners in facing common threats, including counterterrorism, counternarcotics, poverty, and extremism. The process has 3 pillars, namely, Political Consultation, Confidence Building Measures(CBM), and cooperation with regional organizations. India is the lead country for trade, commerce and investment CBM. The United States and over 20 other nations and organizations serve as "supporting nations" to the process.[2]
On 26 April 2013, Almaty, Kazakhstan, hosted the third Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process[3] which gathered leaders from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan,and the United Arab Emirates along with Western countries and international organizations, to discuss mechanisms to support regional cooperation. The April meeting focused on the creation of "Silk Routes Partnership for Migration" to promote further dialogue and cooperation on the issue of migration.[4] The meeting also produced a declaration in support of Afghanistan’s development and the withdrawal of international forces. Kazakhstan’s diplomats supported regional efforts in the areas of counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics trafficking, trade promotion, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, the CASA-1000 electricity project, and the expansion of the transit corridors under the Asian Development Bank’s Central Asia Regional Economic Corridor (CAREC) Program. Kazakhstan has helped to fund the Afghan National Security Forces and financed a fifty-million-dollar program to educate Afghan students in Kazakhstan.[5]