Field Reports
NEW INCIDENT IN GEORGIAN-ABKHAZ CONFLICT ZONE STRAINS RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN RELATIONS FURTHER
By Johanna Popjanevski (10/31/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A recent standoff between a Georgian Ministry of Interior special unit and Russian CIS peacekeepers has given rise to new tensions in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone. The incident took place in the village of Ganmukhuri, located near the border of the breakaway region of Abkhazia and home to one of the Georgian special purpose units under the Ministry of Interior. The controversy started in the early afternoon of October 30, when four Georgian MoI officers were detained and apparently beaten by Russian peacekeepers patrolling the area of the Inguri river separating Abkhazia from Georgia proper.
UZBEKISTAN-TURKMENISTAN: LATEST SIGN OF GROWING REGIONAL COOPERATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Erkin Akhmadov (10/31/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On October 18, Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov paid a two-day official visit to Turkmenistan. This was the first official visit of the Uzbek president to Turkmenistan since 1998, when they met to discuss the advance of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement to the borders of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The relationships between two states have always been strained, conditioned by many disagreements from personal to interstate level.
THE BATTLE FOR TAJIKISTAN’S WHITE GOLD
By Sergey Medrea (10/31/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In the local media, Soviet-style accounts given by the heads of districts and jamoats (the lowest tier of local government) on the volume of harvested cotton and the percentage of the plan fulfilled are often found. In 2006, the harvest amounted to a little over 440,000 tons. This year, authorities set the quota at 550,000 tons before the rain season starts.
WOMEN: THE PILLARS OF AFGHANISTAN
By M. Ashraf Haidari (10/17/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The largest defeat of the British-Indian forces in the Second Anglo-Afghan War came through the leadership of one heroic, Afghan woman — Malalai of Maiwand. Malalai called out to dejected Afghan troops and carried the Afghan banner before being killed on the battlefield.
A woman who rose to patriotic duty during troubled times, Malalai reminds us all of the critical role women must play in securing peace and prosperity for Afghanistan.
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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.