Joshua Kucera
As the U.S. and NATO forces prepare to leave Afghanistan starting next year, a new buzzword has appeared in Central Asian capitals: “spillover.” This is the theory that, when coalition troops withdraw, the Afghanistan authorities won’t be able to maintain order, resulting in either civil war or the return of an Islamist government in Afghanistan. This could lead to various dangerous elements spilling over the border from Afghanistan into the ex-Soviet Central Asian states, including guns, drugs and radical Islamists.
A round-up of some of the top articles and news highlights from around the region over the last week:
A round-up of some of the top articles and news highlights from around the region over the last week
Since 2001, the most visible U.S. military presence in Central Asia has been a U.S. Air Force base in Kyrgyzstan, formally called the Transit Center at Manas. Since then the base has been the source of extensive diplomatic wrangling between the two countries, and now – with the pullout of U.S. forces in Afghanistan looming – the Kyrgyzstan government is making strong suggestions that it wants the base out.
Recently, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Moscow would be sending a substantial package of military aid to the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan by the end of this year.
A round-up of some of the top articles and news highlights from around the region over the last week
Russia and Iran have announced that they will conduct joint naval exercises on the Caspian Sea some time by the end of the year.