China is approaching this year's G-5 summit to be held July 5 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan -- with an agenda containing both traditional and new goals. In addition to China and Russia, the summit involves the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Participants will seek to strengthen common interests in trade, border issues and regional security.
Once dubbed "countries in transition," almost all of them have in fact already completed their transitions away from communism. However, the transitions have been not fully to democracy but to various forms of authoritarianism that will jeopardize human rights protections in the foreseeable future. It is time to hold their governments to tougher standards.
The announcement on June 10 that the Taliban is amassing armored vehicles and anti-aircraft defense systems just 15 kilometers from the Uzbek town of Termez is likely to intensify pressure on regional governments to rally military allies. Yet authorities in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, in particular, appear to be greeting Russia's saber-rattling with mixed feelings.
More than 10,000 representatives from 189 countries, including those in Central Asia and the Caucasus, and hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) gathered this week at the United Nations to discuss the status of women in the world.
Reading Central Asia and the New Global Economy is a must for anybody who professes an interest in this particular region. The book does a superb job at exploring two themes - the dissimilarity among the Central Asian republics on the one hand, and the region's lack of a sustainable economic framework on the other.
Despite the secretary general's praise, stability remains tenuous in Tajikistan, and the country's future in the post-peace process era is uncertain. [See Eurasia Insight]. One of the major threats to stability in Tajikistan is connected with drug trafficking.
The latest round of negotiations between the Taliban and supporters of Burhanuddin Rabbani ended in deadlock on May 9 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The two sides agreed to continue talks in June, but many observers are skeptical about the potential for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan.
Much concern has been raised since the Soviet breakup over the possible Balkanization of parts of Central Asia and the Caucasus. This threat was the most plausible of the many suspect reasons cited by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev when he shifted the country's capital from Almaty to Astana.
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright concluded a three-country tour of Central Asia on April 19. During stops in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Albright focused talks with regional leaders on a variety of security-related issues, including drug trafficking, counter terrorism and border control.
A 1600 year old statue of a sleeping Buddha - uncovered by archeologists from the former Soviet Union 35 years ago and never before seen by the outside world - will soon be on display in Dushanbe, the capital of the Central Asian Republic of Tajikistan.
