Latest Articles about Central Asia
TAJIK PRESIDENT USES NATIONAL HOLIDAYS TO LAUNCH HIS RE-ELECTION BID
Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov is actively campaigning ahead of presidential elections scheduled for November 6. In the last two weeks, Rahmonov celebrated four national holidays before other candidates could legally announce their own participation. Under the president’s leadership, Tajikistan celebrated national independence day, the year... MORE
IMU ISSUES NEW THREAT TO CENTRAL ASIAN LEADERS
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is showing renewed confidence in Central Asia and has apparently increased its capacity to carry out terrorist acts within the region. A speech marking the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, purportedly given by IMU leader Tahir Yuldashev, was... MORE
TOP KYRGYZ OFFICIALS ACCUSED OF PLOTTING AGAINST OPPOSITION LEADER
A fresh scandal broke out in Kyrgyzstan when Omurbek Tekebayev, a member of the Kyrgyz parliament and a leader of the opposition movement For Reforms, was arrested at the Warsaw airport on September 6 for allegedly smuggling 500 grams of heroin. Polish authorities soon released... MORE
TASHKENT SEES ASTANA AS GATEWAY TO WESTERN COOPERATION
Uzbekistan’s turbulent bilateral relations with Kazakhstan, steadily improving in recent years as both countries vied for the potential benefits of cooperating with the West in the War on Terror, have now become a key political target for Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Karimov’s state visit to... MORE
NAZARBAYEV’S TRIP TO WASHINGTON: WHAT ASTANA CAN HOPE FOR?
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s upcoming official visit to the United States will be his sixth summit meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush. As the trip approaches, more questions arise concerning the future shape of Kazakh-U.S. relations, specifically whether it should become a genuine, “strategic”... MORE
KARIMOV FORGING PARTNERSHIP WITH JAPAN
Still tainted by the May 2005 Andijan massacre and its aftermath, Uzbek President Islam Karimov has discovered that Japan is willing to explore economic cooperation and to develop closer relations with the Tashkent regime. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Central Asia in late August... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTAN, UZBEKISTAN, AND TAJIKISTAN SIGN PACT TO PRESERVE ARAL SEA
Central Asian leaders reiterated pledges to rescue the Aral Sea during a summit meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Friday, September 1. At that meeting, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan decided to revive the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. (Turkmenistan did... MORE
KYRGYZ LAW ENFORCEMENT CRACKS DOWN ON HIZB-UT-TAHRIR
During the past week several individuals were detained by Kyrgyz law-enforcement agencies for distributing religious-ideological leaflets. According to recent reports, the number of detained people linked to radical group Hizb-ut-Tahrir has intensified in Kyrgyzstan’s northern cities, including the capital Bishkek (24.kg, August 14). Small groups... MORE
BOUCHER VISIT TO BISHKEK REVEALS WIDENING GAP IN U.S.-KYRGYZ RELATIONS
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, constrained in his relations with the West owing to pressures from Russia and China, wants to reshape the perception of Bishkek’s role in Central Asia. Eschewing the perception that his country is becoming the focal point for the conflicting interests of... MORE
TAJIKISTAN: CORRUPTION MOUNTS AS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS NEAR
With presidential elections in Tajikistan planned for this fall, the current president and leader of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emomali Rahmonov, remains the only candidate. The opposition Islamic Renaissance Party will likely put forward its own candidate, although a Rahmonov victory is easily... MORE