What I've read about Kazakhstan is that, similar to what happened in Russia after the fall of the USSR, the west came in and "advised" them how to open up their markets. What is happening a few locals became oligarchs by allowing sweetheart deals to western companies to extract wealth (through natural resources) from the country.

The vast majority of local Kazazhs stay poor, because the wealth is being sent to the west. This is similar to what has happened in the US mid-west. The only jobs now are for Walmart and Amazon, whose owners are not in the towns where the jobs are.