Field Reports
ARMENIA RECEIVES ENOUGH AID TO KEEP BUDGET COMMITMENTS
By Haroutiun Khachatrian (7/15/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Armenian economy declined by 15.7 percent during January-March 2009, compared to the same period the previous year. This recession, which is one of the deepest among the CIS countries, has also created a shortage in budgetary incomes.
POROUS TAJIK-AFGHAN BORDER REMAINS A MAJOR SECURITY CHALLENGE
By Alexander Sodiqov (7/15/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On July 2, 2009, Tajik border guards discovered a large Afghan drug camp in an isolated area called Shpilob in Shurobod District on Tajikistan’s southern border with Afghanistan. According to the Tajik state news agency Khovar, the border troops attacked the camp, killing two and forcing about 200 suspected drug smugglers to retreat across the Panj River to neighboring Afghanistan. In numerous caves on a rough mountainside, Tajik border guards found roughly 350 kg of various drugs, 11 firearms and 6,500 cartridges.
UZBEKISTAN AND THE CSTO: WHY NOT COLLECTIVE FIRST RESPONSE FORCES?
By Erkin Akhmadov (7/15/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On July 2 2009, the legislative chamber of Uzbekistan – Oliy Majlis – discussed the results of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Council’s session held in Moscow on June 14. One of the key issues discussed at the session was the creation of Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) under the CSTO. The President of Uzbekistan did not attend the session in June.
KYRGYZ OPERATION AGAINST IMU REVEALS GROWING TERRORIST THREAT
By Roman Muzalevsky (7/1/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On June 23, the Kyrgyz State Committee on National Security (GKNB) conducted a special operation against members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a regional terrorist group. The event parallels numerous similar actions that have recently taken place in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The developments point to an increasing threat of local terrorist groups being driven from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas and actively pursuing their agenda in Central Asia following the intensified attacks by the ISAF in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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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.