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CSS Blog

Central Asia: Challenges Intensify, Geopolitics Doesn’t

Once considered an island of democracy in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan – here its presidential office, the White House – hosted the last Central Asia summit in July 2022. (Source: Chatrina Schumacher, July 2022)

Russia’s predominant role in Central Asia is set to decline following its war in Ukraine. This creates both an urgency as well as an opportunity for the Central Asian states to diversify their external ties. Many potential partners seem keen to fill some of the void, but their actual engagement remains limited. The region’s relative stability has priority, which favors the ruling elites’ authoritarianism. Conversely, this may foster instability in the long run.

Categories
CSS Blog Terrorism

At the Crossroads of Central and South Asia

This week’s featured graphic shows how Afghanistan’s location at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia ensures that its future will affect the dynamics of China-Russia relations in both regions. For more on The Taliban Takeover and China-Russia Relations, read Brian G. Carlson’s CSS Analysis in Security Policy here.

Categories
Terrorism

Connecting the Dots: The West’s Wars at Home and Abroad

Image courtesy of Richard Wharton/DVIDS.

This article was originally published by the Oxford Research Group on 28 February 2020.

The war on terror has been underway for nearly two decades. Yet there is still little appreciation in some political quarters of how this approach has often been counterproductive and even created the conditions for violent extremism to thrive. If we are ever going to move towards a less violent future, this must change.

10 Conflicts to Watch in 2020

Image courtesy of Adrian Weale/DVIDS.

This article was originally published by the International Crisis Group on 27 December 2019.

Friends and foes alike no longer know where the United States stands. As Washington overpromises and underdelivers, regional powers are seeking solutions on their own – both through violence and diplomacy.

Afghan Peace Talks Are Damaged, But Not Yet Broken

Image courtesy of DVIDS/John Conroy

This article was originally published by the United States institute of Peace (USIP) on 10 September 2019.

USIP’s Andrew Wilder sees an urgent need to get the peace effort back on track.

President Trump’s weekend announcement of a halt to U.S. peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban—including a previously unannounced U.S. plan for a Camp David meeting to conclude that process—leaves the future of the Afghanistan peace process unclear. USIP’s Andrew Wilder, a longtime Afghanistan analyst, argues that, rather than declaring an end to the peace process, U.S. negotiators could use the setback as a moment to clarify the strategy, and then urgently get the peace process back on track before too much momentum is lost.