Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Central Asia

Central Asia

AAN Co-authorship: Article on families during conflict in Central Asia

AAN Team

Acta Via Serica, 1 June 2020 AAN researcher Reza Kazemi has co-authored the article “Family Matters: The Making and Remaking of Family during Conflict Periods in Central Asia” for the peer reviewed journal ” in the June 2020 issue of Acta Via Serica: Journal for Silk Road and Central Asian Studies, published by Keimyung University […]

External publications Read more

A Tomb in Kabul: The Fate of the Last Amir of Bukhara and his country’s relations with Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig Vladimir N Plastun

In addition to the last Amir of Bukhara’s former garden, on which we reported some days ago, there is another landmark in Kabul that reminds us of this unlucky ruler – his tomb at the Shuhada-ye Salehin cemetery. The Amir, Muhammad Alem Khan, died in Kabul in 1944 and remains buried in Afghanistan despite his […]

Regional Relations Read more
Footage from the Islamic Jihad Union's al-Sodiqlar social media channel.

New Confusion About ISKP: A case study from Sar-e Pul

Obaid Ali

After the defeat of a self-proclaimed ISKP group in Jawzjan in July 2018, focus has shifted to neighbouring Sar-e Pul. Russian media in particular have alleged that there are more pro-ISKP groups active in this province. AAN’s Obaid Ali (with inputs from Thomas Ruttig) has looked into Sar-e Pul’s insurgency landscape and found no indication […]

War and Peace Read more

To Syria, not Afghanistan: Central Asian jihadis ‘neglect’ their neighbour

Christian Bleuer

Since the American and Northern Alliance defeat of the Taleban and their Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) allies in northern Afghanistan in late 2001, the arrival of would-be fighters from the former Soviet countries of Central Asia to Afghanistan has been a very small trickle. And yet, over the last year, the number of Central […]

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Decades before Point Zero: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on a state visit to Afghanistan in 1955. Photo: archive

From Point Zero to ‘New Warmth’: Russian-Afghan relations since 1989

Thomas Ruttig

After the Soviet occupation years, Afghan-Russian relations were on absolute zero. But post-Soviet Russia has worked carefully on improving the situation step by step. This strategy is based on an about-face under Yeltsin: dropping Najibullah and building a relationship with the mujahedin, beginning in 1992. In recent years, mounting Afghan-US and Russian-US tensions have made […]

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Photo: Pajhwok

Between Co-operation and Insulation: Afghanistan’s Relations with the Central Asian Republics

Christian Bleuer S Reza Kazemi

The latest AAN report, “Between Co-operation and Insulation: Afghanistan’s Relations with the Central Asian Republics”, by Christian Bleuer and Said Reza Kazemi, looks at the state of Afghanistan’s relationships to the former Soviet republics of Central Asia to the north. The authors look at the multi- and bilateral cooperation on various levels and from both […]

Special Reports Read more

U.S. seeks new bases for drones [in Central Asia] targeting Al Qaeda in Pakistan

AAN

Los Angeles Times, 16 February 2014 "The Obama administration is making contingency plans to use air bases in Central Asia to conduct drone missile attacks in northwest Pakistan in case the [US] is forced to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan at the end of this year, according to U.S. officials', the paper reports. … "Intelligence officials […]

Recommended Reads Read more

Kremlin’s Blunder Backfires in Central Asia

AAN Team

Turkish Weekly, 1 November 2013 Ryskeldi Satke looks at the Afghan spill-over potential to Central Asia. He quotes AAN’s Thomas Ruttig: “German expert Thomas Ruttig with the Afghanistan Analyst Network underscores the comments made by the Tajik opposition figure according to whom the threat of the Taliban marching over the borders to Central Asia is […]

AAN in the Media Read more

A Potential Afghan Spill-Over: How Real Are Central Asian Fears?

S Reza Kazemi

Afghanistan is bracing itself for its transition. Most foreign troops will be gone by 2014 and Afghanistan’s already controversial elections have been fixed for early April that year while peace with the armed opposition remains elusive. Afghan domestic politics aside, how is the transition in Afghanistan perceived in its northern neighbourhood, which is under-explored, compared […]

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