Executive Summary: Tashkent is positioning itself as a mediator between Taliban-led Afghanistan and the international community, advocating for integration rather than isolation since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021. Uzbekistan aims to turn Afghanistan into a strategic trade hub, offering access to... MORE

Executive Summary: Central Asian governments have traditionally viewed outmigration as a way to reduce unemployment and provide additional cash flow for the population and government through payments sent home, but the problems this outmigration has led to in Central Asia are gaining more attention. These... MORE

Executive Summary: Ukraine has escalated its campaign against Russian energy targets, striking the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) Kropotkinskaia oil pumping station (OPS) in February. The CPC pipeline is Kazakhstan’s primary export route, handling 80 percent of its crude oil, and the strike on the Kropotkinskaia... MORE

On May 1, Ukraine and the United States signed a long-anticipated minerals deal providing the United States with preferential rights to mineral extraction in Ukraine. The agreement creates a U.S.-controlled, jointly-managed investment fund that will receive revenues from new projects in critical minerals, oil, and... MORE

Executive Summary: Japan, the fifth largest economy in the world, is making new moves to gain access to natural resources and industries in Central Asia, sparking tension with Moscow and Beijing. The Japanese government views recent Central Asian agreements on borders as opening a new... MORE

Executive Summary: Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have announced they will hold joint naval exercises in the northern portion of the Caspian Sea near Russia’s coastline to prepare for any asymmetrical threat. While this announcement was overshadowed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ratification of a cooperation accord... MORE

Executive Summary: The five Central Asian countries have suffered a new brain drain since gaining independence in 1991, with a large share of their advanced students and best scholars moving to the West rather than to Russia, as had been the case in Soviet times.... MORE

Executive Summary: The presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan resolved the last major border conflict in Central Asia through the Agreement on the Junction Point of the State Borders of the Three Countries signed in Khujand, Tajikistan, on March 31. The resolution of border issues... MORE

Executive Summary: Kazakhstan launched a new container rail service linking the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Poland, reinforcing its position as a vital transit hub through Eurasia. The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway, a part of the PRC’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, has emerged as... MORE

Executive Summary: Kazakhstan is positioning itself as a strategic hub for critical minerals, leveraging its vast reserves of copper, zinc, lead, and nickel to attract foreign investment and diversify economic partnerships amid growing global demand and geopolitical competition. Deepening cooperation with the People’s Republic of... MORE