News Digest
MEMBER OF ISLAMIC TERRORIST GROUP CONVICTED IN KYRGYZSTAN, SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS
By empty (2/6/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A Kyrgyz court on Tuesday convicted a former member of the radical Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a terrorist group that has been linked to Osama bin Laden \'s al-Qaida network, and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. Sherali Akbotoyev, 40, was convicted after a two-day trial on all charges he faced - including terrorism, hostage-taking and membership of a banned armed group - and will also have his property confiscated, said Judge Pamirdin Jumagulov of the Batken district court in southern Kyrgyzstan. Akbotoyev was detained in an unspecified foreign country - not Afghanistan or any country neighboring Kyrgyzstan - for breaking visa regulations, Kyrgyz security service spokeswoman Chinara Asanova said.IRAN URGES CAUTION ON IRAQ
By empty (2/6/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Any \"mistakes\" in handling the Iraq crisis will risk a clash of civilisations, Iran\'s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has said. He said he would use talks with UK leaders on Thursday to seek ways of avoiding war in Iraq and persuading Baghdad to comply more fully with UN Security Council resolutions. Mr Kharrazi repeated that if any further measures were to be taken against Baghdad as a result of non-compliance, those measures must be decided and taken by the United Nations, not unilaterally.UZBEKISTAN SAYS IT SUPPORTS U.S. CALL FOR MORE RESOLUTE STEPS TO DISARM IRAQ
By empty (2/6/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan said Thursday it supports the United States\' call for more resolute measures to disarm Iraq. Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov said that U.S.CLASHES IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN
By empty (2/5/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Afghan government forces have clashed with suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters near the southern city of Kandahar. Local officials said both sides used heavy weapons in the fighting, which broke out in the mountainous area of Shawali Kot north of the city. There have been no details of casualties.Visit also
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.