| |
|
| |
|
The “spectacular” Taliban attack on numerous venues in Kabul and in three provinces seen in conjunction with the suspension of talks between the Americans and the Taliban in Qatar and the vehement Taliban rejection of talks with the Afghan government has reinforced the apprehensions of the Afghan people that peace and stability in Afghanistan remains a distant dream and exacerbates fears that the completion of the foreign troop withdrawal will not only bring economic hardship but chaotic security and political conditions.
Najmuddin A. SHAIKH | 27.04.2012 |
|
| |
|
The permanently tense Uzbek-Tajik relations sank to a new low in November 2011 – January 2012... There is firm belief in Dushanbe that the rail blockade imposed by Tashkent on Tajikistan came as a response to the intensification of construction of the Rogun Dam... At the moment, Uzbekistan seems to regard the Rogun project as the key threat to its national security as the dam has a potential to reduce the availability of water resources downstream the Amu Darya...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 31.01.2012 |
|
| |
|
The US design is to draw Uzbekistan and Tajikistan out of the orbit of the rest of the post-Soviet Central Asia and to bracket the two republics with Afghanistan and Pakistan within a new geopolitical formation hosting something akin to another Silky Way. Some of the key infrastructures of the route, particularly, the Mazar-e-Sharif – Termez railroad, are already in place...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 01.11.2011 |
|
| |
|
A summit of Central Asia's anti-drug quartet – Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan – established last year to coordinate efforts aimed at suppressing the outflow of drugs from Afghanistan convened this September in Dushanbe. In a few days, the second meeting of the regional anti-narcotics conference was held in Kabul. Russia as a country for which the drug threat is a pressing national security challenge plays the key role in building and running both groups... The state of the drug problem in Russia is affected directly by the situations in Afghanistan and Tajikistan...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 28.09.2011 |
|
| |
|
Russian general staff chief Gen. N. Makarov warned at a media briefing in Moscow on September 12 that revolutions patterned on the Libyan one can recur in Central Asia... Lack of direct access to Central Asia from the traditional NATO responsibility zone would put serious obstacles in the way of an intervention comparable to the one recently launched against Libya. At the moment the transit routes used to supply NATO bases in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan are entirely dependent on Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 19.09.2011 |
|
| |
|
According to a report released by Tajik Ministry of the Interior, its forces finally managed to rid the republic from the armed group led by field commander Mullo Abdullo which for years remained one of the republic's worst headaches... Several commentators hold that US special forces might have helped to kill Mullo Abdullo. Reportedly, the US special forces can cross into Tajikistan from Afghanistan... Moscow's concern that the US is building a continuous belt of military bases across Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan are not entirely groundless.
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 26.04.2011 |
|
| |
|
The US-Tajik consultations which took place recently in Dushanbe left a distinct impression that Washington is seeking greater sway over Tajikistan's economy and decision-making. Accordingly, Russia, currently a stronger player in Tajikistan than the US or China, may see its positions in the republic eroded in the foreseeable future... Up to date, the US interests in Tajikistan have been limited to maintaining the route used to supply NATO forces in Afghanistan (five bridges across the Panj River were built to this end)...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 20.04.2011 |
|
| |
|
A wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world has made us think about whether such events are possible in other parts of the planet... Taking into account geographical location of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Xinjiang autonomous district of China and other hotbeds of instability, as well as geopolitics of the Central Asian region which has common borders with Russia, China, India and Iran, the consequences of possible unrest will do the former Soviet republics more harm than to Libya.
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 16.03.2011 |
|
| |
|
On January 12, the Tajik parliament's lower chamber ratified the border demarcation treaty with China, by which Tajikistan is to cede to China 1,112 square kilometers of its territory in the Eastern Pamir Mountains...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 22.01.2011 |
|
| |
|
The present list of top 10 developments in Central Asia in 2010 was compiled on the basis of the author's assessment of their impact on the region's political and socioeconomic landscape. In any case, the developments surveyed below will likely have enduring repercussions for Central Asia...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 18.01.2011 |
|
