By Stephen Blank (5/22/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: The SCO came into being originally as a confidence-building mechanism to define the five members\' (Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China) collective borders and ensure conditions for increased trade among them. However it soon evolved into something else. In a sense, China and Russia hijacked - or at least diverted - the SCO into becoming an allegedly model forum for their joint resistance to American policies concerning missile defense and support for Taiwan and for reform in Tibet and the American alliance system in Asia.

By Professor Stephen Blank (9/13/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: For over a year and a half, Uzbekistan has asked many countries for military assistance, among them Germany, China and the United States, in its armed struggle against militants from the Islamic Movement for Uzbekistan. The militants appear to be composed of both Islamic insurgents and bandits posing as Islamic rebels for their own purposes. These insurgencies began in mid-1999 after an attempt was made on President Islam Karimov's life and shortly following Karimov’s withdrawal of Uzbekistan from of the collective security pact of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

By Damon Bristow (9/13/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Thanks to the close relationship that existed between Moscow and New Delhi during the Cold War, New Delhi has traditionally had strong links with the Central Asian region.  In the decade since the end of the superpower conflict in the region and the collapse of the Soviet Union, India has increasingly made an effort to build on these long-standing ties in order to establish links with the newly formed Central Asian Republics. Currently, the most important factor driving relations between India and the Central Asian Republics has been the rise of religious extremism and terrorism.