Latest Articles about Central Asia

STUNG BY CHENEY’S COMMENTS, MOSCOW PLAYS ENERGY CARD

Following U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Kazakhstan May 5-6, Russian officials and executives moved to intensify Moscow's energy maneuverings in Central Eurasia. While Cheney was in Astana, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev traveled to Uzbekistan for talks with President Islam Karimov.... MORE

AGREEMENT AT HAND ON OIL TRANSPORT FROM KAZAKHSTAN TO AZERBAIJAN

Following Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's late April visit to Washington and U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney's early May visit to Kazakhstan, a breakthrough seems imminent on the project to connect Kazakhstan with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. Officials in Kazakhstan now anticipate that Presidents Nursultan... MORE

KARIMOV’S SEARCH FOR SECURITY PARTNERS LEADS TO PAKISTAN

Uzbek President Islam Karimov visited Pakistan on May 2, making a point of placing security atop the agenda for bilateral meetings. Karimov is staking considerable political capital on deepening Tashkent's relations with Pakistan, principally based on building economic ties and appealing to mutual security interests... MORE

KAZAKH-UZBEK BORDER INCIDENT SIGNALS TENSION

An April 19 incident involving Uzbek border guards and a Kazakh national revealed the ongoing cross-border tensions and geopolitical rivalry between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Reports in the media of both countries tended to overemphasize the significance of the incident, which has been taken up at... MORE

BISHKEK WELCOMES EXPANDED RUSSIAN MILITARY PRESENCE IN KYRGYZSTAN

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev met with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first state visit to Moscow on April 24-25. The meeting began with Bakiyev stating that Kyrgyzstan today needs economic assistance, which Russia is able to provide. Putin welcomed the idea of intensifying bilateral... MORE

DUSHANBE HOSTS CIS INTERIOR MINISTERS’ MEETING

On April 21 a session of the CIS Council of Interior Ministers opened in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The agenda included the routine security issues of combating terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, and the arms trade. The meeting could lead to the creation of a single center holding... MORE

KYRGYZ PRESIDENT WARNS OF DEADLINE ON AMERICAN AIR BASE

On April 19, five days before his scheduled visit to Russia, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev threatened on national television to close the U.S.-led Manas air base by June 1, unless the United States agrees by that date to sign a new agreement on terms demanded... MORE