Field Reports
KAZAKH MINISTRY EXPERTS GIVE CAUTIOUS WELCOME TO NATO
By Marat Yermukanov (12/13/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Over the last decade that has passed since Kazakhstan joined NATO’s Partnership For Peace Program in 1994, the country won recognition from western states as a potential military rearguard for Europe in Central Asia. Welcoming Nursultan Nazarbayev, NATO General Secretary Jaap De Hoop Scheffer praised Kazakhstan as a most active partner of the North Atlantic Alliance, which successfully works according to its Individual Partnership Action Plan and is involved in regional and political cooperation. He added that Kazakhstan was not only interested in, but was actually supporting NATO’s ISAF operations in troubled Afghanistan.MESSAGE BEHIND THE BREAKING VOICE AND TEARFUL EYES OF KARZAI
By Muhammad Tahir (12/13/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In a conference marking the 58th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights on December 10, President Karzai publicly complained for the first time about the impact of NATO combat troops’ operations on innocent Afghan people.With tearful eyes and a breaking voice, the President could hardly continue his speech after talking about an Afghan boy left paralyzed by a NATO air strike in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province. In his heartfelt speech, which brought the audience to tears, Karzai helplessly pointed to the bloody results of activities of Pakistani-linked insurgents groups as well as the operations of NATO forces.
PROSPECTIVE JOINING OF HIPC PROVOKES FIERCE DEBATES IN KYRGYZSTAN
By Erica Marat (12/13/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Some top government officials, including Prime Minister Felix Kulov, Minister of Finance Akylbek Japarov, and Head of the National Bank Marat Alapayev, speak in favor of joining the initiative. However, most parliamentarians and civil society activists, including the opposition bloc “For Reforms”, are strictly against the initiative.Last week, a group of students staged protests against HIPC in front of the World Bank’s office in Bishkek.
NATOS UNFAMILIAR ROLE, AFGHANISTAN’S FAMILIAR SITUATION
By Simon Roughneen (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Testifying before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February 2006, NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Jones said that the greatest challenge facing the organisation today is its expansion across Afghanistan. NATO has commanded the UN Security Council-mandated International Security Assistance force (ISAF) since 2003, Operating under a peace-enforcement Chapter VII mandate, ISAF seeks ultimately to enable the Afghan Government assume full responsibility for internal and border security.NATOs Article 5, or collective defence provision, was invoked on 12/9/01, a day after the al-Qaeda attacks on the US.
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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.