By Aftab Kazi (7/3/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Last month in Islamabad, the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan agreed to revive interest in the construction of a 890 mile long, $2bn gas pipeline that was once initiated by UNOCAL and proposed as the ‘Centgas’ pipeline. This pipeline would connect the gas fields of Eastern Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast. Soon after the Agreement was signed, India’s ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation-Overseas) announced a counter-proposal “Energy Highway” to construct a Russia-China-India (RCI) pipeline.

By Rafis Abazov (7/3/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Kazakhstan has since independence struggled to build a strategic balance in Central Asia. Its leaders have consistently supported the establishment of a multiple-level security system with as many international players as possible, although Kazakhstan has remained a member to the CIS Collective Security Treaty. However, the painful economic transformation has greatly undermined the economic and military potential of the state.

By Moukhabbat Khodjibaeva (2/2/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Tajikistan slid into a civil war soon after independence in 1991. The conflict extended the rivalry between pro-Communist and pro-Islamic forces inside the country and quickly turned into severe inter-ethnic strife. The full-scale war form 1992 to 1997 almost paralyzed the country of five million people, leaving nearly 60,000 dead and one in five a refugee or displaced.