AJARIA’S FAILED SECESSION AND RUSSIA’S CAUCASIAN CHOICES
By Pavel Baev (5/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: During Georgia’s time of troubles in the early 1990s, Ajaria remained an ‘island of stability’ that was secured primarily through tough bargaining with Tbilisi. Aslan Abashidze for more than a decade had every reason to be satisfied with the deal: he traded a symbolic recognition of Tbilisi’s sovereignty for a real and virtually unlimited control over his family domain. Backing from Moscow was always an important chip in this bargaining, so while the Georgian authorities demanded the withdrawal of all Russian military bases, Batumi warmly welcomed the Russian 12th military base and encouraged local young men to enlist for service there.IS FOREIGN PRESENCE IN KYRGYZSTAN NEGATIVELY AFFECTING REGIONAL COOPERATION IN CENTRAL ASIA?
By James Purcell Smith (5/5/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The U.S. war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan needed launching pads for air force, and supply bases in neighboring countries.TERRORISM IN UZBEKISTAN: THE IMU REMAINS ALIVE BUT NOT WELL
By Richard Weitz (5/5/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Despite Uzbek efforts to convince their American interlocutors otherwise, Central Asian terrorists are seeking to undermine President Islam Karimov not because he is a U.S. ally, but because he opposes their efforts to establish a Taliban-like regime in the region’s most important country.THE KILLING OF ABU AL-WALID AND THE RUSSIAN POLICY IN CHECHNYA
By Murad Batal Al-Shishani (5/5/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Abd Al-Aziz Bin Ali Bin Said Al Said Al-Ghamdi, known as Abu Al-Walid, took over leadership of Arab fighters in Chechnya after the death of Amir Khattab (Samer Bin Saleh Bin Abdullah Al-Swelim) in 2002. Accused by the Russian government of being the mastermind of numerous terrorist attacks in Chechnya and Moscow, Al-Walid is the poster child for Russian allegations that legions of al-Qaeda are fighting in Chechnya. In a full exposé on Al-Walid’s life, the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan interviewed members of the al-Walid family (23 June 2002) describing his upbringings and how he went to Afghanistan in 1986 at age sixteen, but only after first receiving “the permission of his parents”, which is important because parental consent is essential in some parts of the Muslim world in determining whether a person can wage jihad.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.