In striving to contain drug trafficking in Central Asia, the United States is focusing on interdiction. Policy experts contend that both the scope and the level of US current anti-trafficking efforts are inadequate to achieve the desired policy goals.
The latest government crackdown in Uzbekistan is the harshest since that carried out in the aftermath of the 1999 Tashkent bombings, international observers say. In recent months, human rights advocates, independent journalists and opposition political activists have endured arrests, beatings and other forms of intimidation.
Recent protests over the autumn parliamentary elections, as well as the June 5 kidnappings in the Kodori Gorge, may poison Georgia's efforts to lure foreign help in negotiating the Abkhaz conflict. On numerous past occasions, diplomatic snarls with Russia and the Abkhazians have halted the peace process. This time, major political instability within Georgia may emerge as the weak reed.
