The threat posed by Islamic militant groups in Central Asia, especially in the Kyrgyz and Tajik portions of the Ferghana Valley, appears to be growing, according to the US State Department's recently released annual report on terrorism.
Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan sell some of the dirtiest petrol in the world, according to the International Fuel Quality Center.
In its annual survey, released last month, the Houston-based energy industry consultancy said the three had tied for 90 out of 100 countries based on regulated sulfur limits in gasoline.
Saidjon, a 15-year-old student at Dushanbe's Haji Kemal Tajik-Turkish boarding school, is happy to be among the privileged few to attend what many consider one of the best schools in Tajikistan. Saidjon speaks four languages and has won two international education contests.
The nomination of a key State Department official responsible for Central Asia and the Caucasus is being held up because of concerns about his views on Turkish-Armenian relations.
With its energy strategy for Central Asia in grave danger of unraveling, Russia is striving to create an appearance of normalcy as the first step in reasserting its energy role in the region.
What seemed like sweet deals with Central Asian energy producers just about a year ago is turning into albatross contracts for Gazprom, Russia's suddenly embattled natural gas conglomerate.
In a cramped and dimly lit apartment in one of New York City's predominantly Russian neighborhoods, three Kyrgyz women share a room. Each has traveled more than a fourth of the distance around the globe to get here, and their goal is clear: make money, use a little of it to get by, and send most of it back home.
Once Kyrgyzstan succumbed to Russian pressure and unceremoniously evicted the United States from its base at Manas, media attention turned to the question of alternatives. A careful discussion of possible alternatives to Manas requires that a distinction be made between routes for non-military logistics, and facilities from which military missions can and do take place.
