America’s Options in Afghanistan

Four years have passed since the United States withdrew in chaos from Afghanistan, abandoning important projects, leaving behind billions of dollars of equipment and handing the Taliban many other assets in that country. The Taliban still rule Afghanistan. They face a mountain of unresolved problems yet are ready to employ as much force as necessary […]
Why President Trump Should Place Central Asia on His Agenda

For three decades Central Asia has remained largely peripheral to Washington’s strategic horizon. Yet Kazakhstan now supplies more than forty percent of the world’s mined uranium, while Turkmenistan controls one of the planet’s largest natural-gas deposits. No sitting US president has visited one of the region’s five countries – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. […]
Afghanistan’s Relations with Neighbors Under the Taliban: Exporting Instability

In the two years since they took over Afghanistan, the Taliban have ignited several diplomatic crises and security threats across the country’s borders. Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have warned that the Taliban are hosting terror groups, and UN and other sources have noted increasing drug trade, border tensions and refugee flows. Central Asian states, particularly […]
Walking a <i>Very</i> Fine Line: The Caspian Region Countries and Ukraine

Russia’s war against Ukraine has put the Caspian countries in a quandary, as they are seeking to maintain their fragile independence.