CENTRAL ASIA….

Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, all nondemocratic states, are shoring up defenses against Islamic fundamentalism. Islamist forces who passed the winter in Afghanistan are believed to be moving into northern Tajikistan, seeking recruits and preparing spring campaigns in neighboring countries. In Uzbekistan, where bombings in Tashkent killed scores and wounded over a hundred last year, President Islam Karimov used his campaign in the recent rigged presidential elections to broadcast warnings of the “growing danger … of religious fanaticism.” In Kyrgyzstan, where Islamic insurgents are active on the Tajikistan border, President Askar Akaev is stressing religious conformity and seeking military aid from Russia, Turkey, and Germany. In Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbaev wants to increase military spending from a derisory 0.86 percent of gross domestic product to a slightly less anemic 1 percent. Russia has made known its eagerness to help in the campaign against international terrorism and “aggressive separatism.”