5 U.S. FOREIGN POLICY INTERESTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CENTRAL ASIA
Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies, the Shelby and Kathryn Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
Tolib Yakubov, the head of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, says that protests like the one staged in Tashkent have become an increasingly common occurrence in Uzbekistan, where hundreds, if not thousands of believers have been arrested in a government effort to counter the security threat posed by radical movements, including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and the Hizb-ut-Tahr
Delegates from around the world begin a three-day meeting June 25 at United Nations headquarters to develop strategies aimed at containing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Central Asian leaders hope the meeting can boost regional prevention efforts.
There is great potential for interstate conflict involving these border countries. So even if the United States did not consider the Caucasus and Central Asian states of vital interest, it might be drawn in by the actions of others. Keeping the regions off the crisis response list should be a priority for the U.S. and Western governments.
The creation of rapid deployment forces marks a potential watershed for the Collective Security Treaty (CST), which is striving to carve out a far-reaching role as a security organization.
Shock waves from a dramatic drop in Afghanistan's opium production are beginning to reverberate throughout Central Asia's drug trafficking networks. Street prices for heroin in Eurasian and European markets have remained stable, indicating that the cutback in opium supplies still has not hit drug consumers.
