As evidence of electoral fraud continues to mount, and the Afghan government delays publicizing results of the August 20 presidential and provincial council elections, attention is focusing on a single point -- the Electoral Complaints Commission.
Gen. Abdul Manan Farahi has served as the director of the Afghan Interior Ministry's Counter-Terrorism Department for the last two-and-a-half years. In an exclusive interview with EurasiaNet, Farahi surveyed Afghanistan's security landscape, and discussed the challenges facing government forces as they strive to contain the radical Islamic insurgency.
On July 27, US Ambassador Thomas A. Schweich, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, discussed upcoming changes in the Bush administration's counternarcotics policies in Afghanistan before a select group of Washington analysts.
Central Asian leaders are exaggerating the danger posed by Islamic radicals, two experts asserted during a recent discussion at the Open Society Institute. They contended that the influence of radical groups is waning at present, as regional residents appear to prefer moderate organizations that focus on economic initiatives.
In a wide-ranging interview, Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kasymzhomart Tokaev, said the Central Asian nation was negotiating with China on an expansion of energy links between the two nations. He also revealed that US President George W. Bush is planning to visit Kazakhstan this year.
US President George Bush arrived March 3 in Pakistan, where he is expected to discuss Islamabad's role in the effort to defeat the Islamic militant insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan is experiencing a lull before a likely storm, a prominent Central Asia analyst contends. With Uzbek leaders now refusing to engage in any give-and-take, Western nations should consider targeted sanctions against Tashkent to compel a revival of dialogue aimed at limiting the risk of instability, the expert added.
Despite recent governmental turmoil in Kyrgyzstan, a prominent democracy activist insists that the Central Asian nation is not vulnerable to a counter-revolution.
Turkmenistan's health care system is in a ruinous state, in which "the oath of allegiance [to President Saparmurat Niyazov] has replaced the Hippocratic Oath," according to a leading Western analyst.
Azerbaijani diplomats were busy in 2005. Negotiations concerning Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution reached a "very high level," according to international mediators. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan signed an Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO, and became a part of the European Union's European Neighborhood Policy.
