Tag: Central Asia

  • Afghanistan and Central Asia Since the Taliban Takeover

    The shockwaves of the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover have reverberated across Central Asia. In a water scarce region, Taliban efforts to build the long-desired Qosh Tepa Canal on the Amu Darya River and a water diversion project on the Helmand River have strained relations with downstream Central Asian states

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  • Russia’s Changing Profile and Influence in Central Asia

    Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has had a major impact on its relations with the states of Central Asia. It has given rise to new efforts in some quarters to further de-colonialize from the Tsarist and Soviet legacies. Western sanctions have altered regional economic supply chains, and the large recent influx of

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  • Where Is the Unrest in Kazakhstan Headed?

    Developments in Kazakhstan have moved rapidly over the past week from apparently spontaneous protests over gas prices to an organized uprising, the removal of long-time ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev and his supporters from the government, and a successful appeal for the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to send peacekeeping forces. What factors produced this evolving

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