AFGHANISTAN AS CENTER: CENTRAL ASIA’S NEW GEOPOLITICS
By Svante Cornell and Maria Sultan (11/22/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The independence of Central Asia's five Muslim republics in 1991 fundamentally altered the geopolitical scene at the center of the Eurasian continent. A paradigm evolved defining Russia, Turkey and Iran as the major players in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Two security threats were defined: the risk of 'loose nukes' and the threat of radical Islam.
INTERVIEW WITH LEADER OF HIZB-E TAHRIR.
By Ahmed Rashid (11/22/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On the origins and aims of Hizb-e Tahrir:
Hizb-e Tahrir was formed in Saudi Arabia in the 1950's and at that time we had a united plan with the Wahhabi movement. But we soon developed differences and split. Hizb-e Tahrir wanted to work with people in each country on a separate basis and bring about Sharia (Islamic law) in a peaceful manner while the Wahhabis were extremists who wanted guerrilla war and the creation of an Islamic army.
CONFRONTATION BREWS AMONG ISLAMIC MILITANTS IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Ahmed Rashid (11/22/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The Hizb-e Tehrir claims that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), previously believed to be aiming to overthrow Uzbek President Islam Karimov, also has similar pan-Central Asian ambitions. Islamic militancy remains the most potent threat to the five Central Asian Republics, even considering the threats posed to the region by the recent Taliban advances in northern Afghanistan, Russian attempts to reestablish a powerful military and political presence in the region, and their struggle to deal with the region’s dire economic recession, inflation and unemployment which is helping provide recruits for these Islamic movements. Having disallowed democracy and all opposition for the past decade, the autocratic Central Asian leaders now face a militant underground Islamic opposition that draws support from the Taliban as well as extremist Islamic groups in Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf states.
Robert M. Cutler Earlier this month India's Prime Minister Atel Behari Vajpayee became only the second Indian head of government
By BACKGROUND: A few years ago, when transit of natural gas from Iran to India was first being discusse (5/9/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)
By contrast, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sought to promote an ephemeral ‘anti-hegemonic’ (read: anti-U.S.) India-Russia-China bloc, by telling Vajpayee that such quadrilateral cooperation among ‘Eastern countries’ was ‘logical and necessary’.
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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.