On December 1, the leader of Kyrgyzstan’s Social Democratic Party, Almazbek Atambayev, was inaugurated as President following a 63 percent victory in late October. This completes the plan set out in April-May 2010 by members of the interim government to create a precedent for a... MORE

Following the second phase of auditing Turkmen gas reserves, the British consultancy company Gaffney Cline & Associates (GCA, one of the world leaders in the profession) estimates the reserves in eastern Turkmenistan at just under 20 trillion cubic meters (the figure deemed most likely, within... MORE

The Soviet art of socialist realism used to be defined as “socialist in substance, national in form.” Threats to prevent the construction of a trans-Caspian gas pipeline by military force are also a form of Kremlin art: bluff in their substance, even if brutal in... MORE

Background  A ferociously combative polemicist, Abu Zar al-Burmi (a.k.a. Abu Zar Khanjari; Abu Zar Azzam)has been recently identified on jihadi forums as the mufti of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), one of the most radical groups based in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). [1]... MORE

The heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have reiterated earlier promises to enlarge the grouping. Thus, the organization (currently including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) has insisted on its global ambitions. SCO expansion would serve to strengthen its international status,... MORE

A mysterious blast on a vital Uzbekistan rail route on November 17 has been followed by a stranger Uzbek disinterest in repairing the damage or sharing details of the investigation into the incident. The Tashkent government formed a commission to investigate the bombing of the... MORE

Since the Kazakh militant group Jund al-Khilafa (Army of the Caliphate) released videos in September and October of two attacks that it claimed to have led against U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the group has risen to prominence on the international jihad scene. The group’s three... MORE

On November 3, Tajik authorities announced that they had completed the main diversion tunnel of the Rogun Dam project. This means that it is now technically possible to divert the Vakhsh River from the part of the valley in which they plan to place the... MORE

In a matter of only days Tajikistan has managed to aggravate its relationship with Russia to the lowest point to date. Last week, a Tajik court sentenced a Russian citizen, Vladimir Sadovnichy, to serve eight years and six months in prison for smuggling and illegally... MORE

Kazakhstan, once depicted as an island of stability invulnerable to the encroachments of Islamist extremists is no longer a safe place in turbulent Central Asia. Over the last seven months the Muslim-dominated country was shaken by a series of terrorist attacks in several cities in... MORE