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Latest Articles about Central Asia
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China as Tajikistan’s ‘Lender of Last Resort’
On May 19–20, the President of Tajikistan Emomalii Rahmon paid a state visit to China where he had talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and with several heads of Chinese state corporations. Rahmon’s official visit resulted in several multi-million-dollar investment projects in the infrastructure,... MORE
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Kumtor Gold Mine Protests and Unrest Rock Kyrgyzstan
The notorious spring season in Kyrgyzstan was again marked by intensified protest activity this year. On May 31, protesters demanding the nationalization of the locally-based Kumtor gold mine clashed with security forces in a northern district of Jeti-Oguz of the Issyk-Kul province in what was... MORE
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Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus Endorse Further Integration, but Obstacles Remain
On May 29, the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine met in Astana to participate in a scheduled meeting of the Supreme Economic Council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), established in 2001. Since Moscow, Minsk and Astana have lately been engaged in... MORE
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Moscow Conference Ponders Eurasian Security Challenges
The May 23 Moscow conference on “Military and Political Aspects of European Security,” hosted by the Russian Ministry of Defense, saw an interesting admixture of old and new thinking on seminal Eurasian security questions. Little progress can be expected in reducing Russia’s and the North... MORE
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Nine Potential ‘Karabakhs’ in Central Asia Heating Up
That the ethnic and political borders in Central Asia do not correspond is widely recognized; but the region’s nine ethnic exclaves, territories within the borders of one country that are ethnically distinct and politically part of a neighboring state, has attracted little attention in the... MORE
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Foreign-Backed Jihadist Movement in Kazakhstan Now Threatens Nearby States as Well
The jihadist network in Kazakhstan, inspired and financed by al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Caucasus Emirate, has shifted from a loose grouping of largely autonomous jamaats into a unified movement that threatens not only Kazakhstan but Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and portions of Uzbekistan as well, according... MORE
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‘New Tajikistan’—New Tensions?
Tension has gripped Tajikistan over the past several weeks in response to the establishment of a new political party. The founding of this party by reputable political, business and academic elites has awakened the public and represents a new phenomenon in the political life of... MORE
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Kazakhstan Proposes to Expand its Transit Facilities on the Caspian to Facilitate NATO’s Withdrawal from Afghanistan
On April 26, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the third ministerial meeting of the so-called Istanbul process, an international initiative for reconstructing and stabilizing Afghanistan in view of the International Security Assistance Force’s (ISAF) forthcoming departure from this country. Speaking before the delegates of the... MORE
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Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan Presidential Summit Boosts Joint Ties
Turkmenistani President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov made a state visit to Kazakhstan on May 10–11. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that his counterpart’s visit “demonstrates the mutual desire to develop these fraternal relations and raise trade and economic relations to a new level” (Trend, May 10). Berdimuhamedov... MORE
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Nazarbayev Promises Modernized Armed Forces in Kazakhstan
While the phenomenon of the military parade has lost much of its former appeal in Western media coverage, with sporadic mention of the Russian show of arms on Red Square on May 9 marking Victory Day, a less well publicized recent event in southern Kazakhstan... MORE