Border Security

All of the Kyrgyz citizens being held hostage after a border clash in Uzbekistan's Sokh exclave have been released.

The Kyrgyz Border Guard Service's chief of staff, Iskender Mambetaliev, told journalists on January 7 that the release came as a result of negotiations between the Uzbek authorities and local citizens of Uzbekistan's Sokh district.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Securing the 12,000-kilometer border of the world's ninth-largest country has never been an easy task.

But in 2012 Kazakhstan's challenges proved especially steep.