Latest Articles about Central Asia
Playing With Fire: Pakistan’s Unintended Strategic Challenge in India’s Homeland
Having examined India’s Afghan policy as a challenge meant to undermine Pakistani security (see Terrorism Focus, August 12), this article examines Pakistan’s low-intensity war against India which, while long ongoing, has been effectively broadened since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and India’s expanding presence there.... MORE
CAN NAZARBAYEV HELP KYRGYZSTAN ESCAPE MOSCOW’S PRESSURE?
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s reluctance to support Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s independence at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe last week has clearly damaged the organization’s internal cohesion, revealing cleavages between its strongest members–Russia and China. But Nazarbayev also gave... MORE
MONGOLIA’S POLITICAL LEADERS COMPROMISE, RESUME COOPERATION
On June 29 Mongolia held its fifth round of parliamentary elections for the Ulsyn Ikh Khural (State Great Hural, or Parliament) since the country abandoned Communism in 1990 and held its first multiparty elections. Opposition parties cried foul; two days later the country’s capital erupted... MORE
Mass Attack on French Paratroopers Heralds New Taliban Tactics
Conflicting accounts of a Taliban ambush of an elite French military unit in the Surubi district of Kabul Province on August 18 have raised new concerns about the future of France’s politically unpopular deployment in Afghanistan. Ten soldiers were killed and 21 wounded in one... MORE
Who is Behind the Bombing of the Salafi Mosque in Baku?
Three people were killed and 13 wounded in the bombing of Baku’s Abu Bakr mosque during evening prayer on August 17. Witnesses claimed that a young man threw a grenade into the mosque where up to 200 people were praying. The assailant was able to... MORE
NAZARBAYEV PLAYS DOUBLE GAME ON SOUTH OSSETIA
As leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, and Russia, gathered in Dushanbe on August 29, the least thing that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev could count on was unanimous support for his recognition of the independence of the breakaway Georgian... MORE
TURKMEN WIND POWER
Since the death of Turkmenistan’s “president for life” Saparmurat “Turkmenbashi” Niyazov on December 21, 2006, energy companies from both East and West have been falling over themselves to get a piece of the action by signing agreements with his successor, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, to develop Turkmenistan’s... MORE
KYRGYZ NGOS REJECT GOVERNMENT’S CRITICISM
Following the Tulip Revolution on March 24, 2005, and amid continuous political instability in the country, Kyrgyz political leaders habitually accuse local non-government organizations for their dependence on foreign financing. Some politicians see local civil society groups cooperating with foreign donors as an encroachment on... MORE
CONFLICT IN SOUTH OSSETIA CONFUSES KYRGYZ GOVERNMENT AHEAD OF CIS SUMMIT
Although Kyrgyzstan has yet to declare its official response to the conflict in South Ossetia, Kyrgyz pundits have quickly used the developments in Georgia in their revision of real and imagined implications of the U.S. military base at the Manas Airport. The Kyrgyz government and... MORE
HIZB UT-TAHRIR AND U.S. ALLIES IN CENTRAL ASIA
As Tashkent and Washington move to repair relations that were downgraded after divergent interpretations of the tragic events in Andijan on May 12, 2005, the U.S. is seeking to reengage Uzbekistan’s support for continuing cooperation of military operations in Afghanistan, for which Tashkent assented within... MORE