Given the amount of money already committed to supporting Afghanistan’s development, the effects of increased spending in Central Asia would be limited. Rather, the U.S. should withdraw from the region, leaving China and Russia to battle over influence.
While Chinese President Xi Jinping is busy greeting world leaders this week at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, here in the quiet, old Dutch town of Galle, Sri Lanka, Chinese tourists are visiting one of the best preserved colonial-era cities in Southeast Asia.
One of the biggest questions among analysts in 1991 was whether the five republics of Central Asia, after 70 years of Communism, would re-claim their historical faith and become a region of political Islam. Almost 25 years on, secular autocrats still rule and recognize Muslim traditions but keep faith out of governance.
With many eyes on the World Cup, another international contest has been brewing in Central Asia: the region’s biggest mosque. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both former Soviet republics, each have under construction mega-mosques in their respective capitals, funded by foreign partners. While perhaps unsurprising in predominately Muslim countries in the fading shadow of the USSR, the […]
After more than a decade of conflict, America is reducing its footprint in Afghanistan. Although it seems likely that America and Afghanistan will come to terms on a security agreement to ensure a residual force of 8,000 to 12,000 soldiers remains in country to carryout counter-terrorism missions and training for the Afghan National Army, the […]
As NATO troops leave, Afghanistan and two of its northern neighbors will undergo national elections. Should we be worried? While some observers expect an uptick in Afghan border infiltration after the upcoming NATO drawdown, others feel that instability in neighboring states Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have long been homegrown. These countries are the main routes […]
Just when things are hotting up again with its neighbors in the East and South China Seas, Beijing faces new challenges from its western neighbors in Central Asia. A report released on February 27 entitled “China’s Central Asia Problem” issued by the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based non-governmental organization tasked with reducing deadly conflict, […]
Early morning February 7, 2011, Hikmatullo Saifullozoda, a 60 year old editor of the opposition newspaper Najot and a prominent member of the opposition from the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), was ambushed and brutally beaten by unidentified perpetrators near his home in the capital city Dushanbe. He is currently in a hospital in […]
In sad news for both Russia and Tajikistan, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports that at least 300 labor migrants from Tajikistan’s Sughd Province have died in Russia since January 1, 2008. More than half were killed by nationalist skinheads while the rest, about 140, died in accidents or from natural causes. Many deaths are not investigated […]
According to the International Crisis Group, Tajikistan may be headed for economic collapse. http://www.rferl.org/content/Tajikistan_On_The_Road_To_Failure_Think_Tank_Concludes/1492820.html The country has been subsisting on remittance payments from migrant workers in Russia, but work is drying up quickly. Many are headed home. Some of the workers who have decided to stay are not making enough to send back, either from […]