Tag: Central Asia

• 

  The Gulf States and Central Asia: Converging Foreign Policies?

  Gulf state activity in Central Asia has steadily increased in recent years. The growing ties come due to shared religion and culture, alongside burgeoning trade, investment, and development initiatives from the Gulf region. This turn of events comes as a very welcome development for Central Asian states, offering them another direction for their various multi-vector

  MORE
• 

  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

  MORE
• 

  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

  MORE
• 

  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

  MORE