Russia has joined the states of Central Asia in expressing alarm over recent military gains made by Afghanistan's Taliban movement, as well as the threat posed by the Islamic insurgency in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Leading Russian international security affairs expert Andrei Kortunov spoke with EurasiaNet about Russia's strategy and interests in Central Asia.
Following former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the enforced isolation of the Soviet peoples ended. Yet, the isolation of post-Soviet studies to a considerable extent remained, and still remains to this day.
Turkey has launched a fresh campaign to win over the hearts and minds of its ethnic cousins in the former Soviet Turkic states. This time round, the Turks hope to win them over not with idealistic notions of common ethnicity, but by helping Central Asian leaders quell what many see as a mounting threat from Islamic rebels.
Along with increasing security cooperation among themselves, Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are forging closer ties with NATO and its members (i.e., Turkey and the US) to enhance regional security.
In recent weeks in Afghanistan, Taliban military units have scored a string of battlefield successes against the forces of the northern alliance, led by Ahmad Shah Massoud. The victories could help the Taliban consolidate their power in Afghanistan, while raising the threat of instability in the neighboring countries of Central Asia.
It is this jarring disconnect that disturbs Stephen Cohen. Apparently, more significant than Putin's negative report on the status quo was his "emphatic commitment to building a democracy." In other words, after a decade of transition, the best Russia has to offer is a vow to keep plugging away at a still elusive goal, even as basic living standards sink to dire levels.
The U.S. Agency for International Development's recently unveiled strategy for assistance to Central Asia (2001-2005) is a sober and cautious plan, apparently born of disappointment in regional governments' records on democratic and economic reform.
Leaders from across the Caucasus and Central Asia are returning home after addressing a wide variety of security and cooperation issues during the UN Millennium Summit.
The United Nations Millennium Summit offers leaders from the Caucasus and Central Asia opportunities for important discussions on a variety of regional issues, including the projected Trans-Caspian pipeline, and peace prospects in Nagorno-Karabakh.
With fighting continuing in Central Asia, several high-profile political leaders and human rights activists have called for negotiations between regional governments and Islamic insurgents. Such appeals, however, are proving premature. The rhetoric of both Uzbek and Kyrgyz leaders remains adamant, and they appear committed to the pursuit of a military solution.
