Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan: Coming of Age Amid Great Power Competition
The China-led regional bloc, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), will be holding its twenty-second summit on September 15-16 in Uzbekistan’s ancient city of Samarkand. Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader...
The Middle Corridor: How Europe Can Transform Central Asia
Central Asia is a tough neighborhood. A colonizer to the north, an economic behemoth to the east, international pariahs to the south, and distances that are continental in scale, it...
Uzbekistan Faces Headwinds in Stabilizing Central and South Asia
Uzbekistan has assumed a leadership role in crafting an approach to the Taliban-led Afghanistan. Driving Tashkent’s behavior is a concern about instability spilling northwards. Uzbeks, however, are not simply looking...
Central Asia Must Choose Reform Over Repression
A new era, marked by mass protests and regime changes, is dawning across Central Asia. Nearly half of the workforce in these countries is comprised of the generation born after...
Uzbekistan’s Mirziyoyev Criticizes ‘Destructive Actions’ Amid Violent Protests
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan urged an end to the ongoing protests in the country’s northwestern Karakalpakstan region on Monday, claiming that the initial protests had given way to “destructive...
What Ending the Uzbek Cotton Boycott Means for Central Asia
The war in Ukraine has prompted the former Soviet republics to alter their economic and diplomatic ties with Russia, signaling that they are not clients of Moscow. The Central Asian...
What the CSTO’s Intervention in Kazakhstan Really Means
Responding to the request made by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan on January 5, 2022, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) triggered for the first time its military function—enshrined in...
Can Uzbekistan Build an Equitable Economy?
Protests and violence in Kazakhstan last month exposed the volatility of Central Asia’s leading economy and left Uzbekistan as the region’s current leader. The unrest underscored the geopolitical importance of...
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Is No ‘New Warsaw’ or ‘Eastern NATO’
Since its establishment in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has experienced several horizontal (expansion of members) and vertical (tasks and functions) evolutions. The change of Iran’s membership from observer...
Uzbekistan Leader Wins Landslide Re-election, Despite Observers’ Reservations
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan was re-elected to a second five-year term on Sunday in a political contest that was marked by a lack of significant competition and allegations of voter fraud—despite recent...
Central Asia Can Help Joe Biden Salvage Afghanistan
America’s twenty-year adventure in Afghanistan is over. What began as a justifiable mission to root out Al Qaeda after the September 11 attacks ended as a spectacular failure in externally...
Can Central Asia Help Russia Cajole the Taliban?
Thirty years after the last Soviet tank left Afghanistan, the Kremlin is openly exploiting the power vacuum caused by the abrupt U.S. departure. Though Russia is cooperating with the Taliban...