Central Asian Security
The IISS Russia and Eurasia programme conducts a broad range of activities and research projects on political and security issues in Central Asia. The strategic importance of Central Asia was highlighted immediately following the war in Afghanistan. All five Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union played an important role in support of the US-led coalition in operation “Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan by providing bases for coalition forces and for humanitarian assistance. In 2009, the United States focused its attention on all five Central Asian states in an effort to speed the flow of material needed by coalition forces to prosecute an offensive against Islamic militants in the region.
To assess the current and future role of Central Asia in developing a regional strategy towards stabilising Afghanistan, in November 2008, the IISS Russia and Eurasia programme and the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan held, in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), an international conference on ‘Central Asia and Afghanistan: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects’. The conference brought together experts from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, Turkey, UK, France and the US. Representatives of NATO, the OSCE, the UN and the EU also took part. The conference addressed issues such as: the prospects for a greater engagement from regional states in the economic reconstruction and stabilisation of Afghanistan; measures to be taken to ensure greater border security and addressing drug trafficking from Afghanistan through Central and South Asia.
In addition to addressing the geostrategic significance of Central Asia to the war in Afghanistan, the IISS Russia and Eurasia programme was one of the first international think-tanks to assess the prospects of the Shanghai Corporation Organization as a key regional player in Central Asia. The programme has also conducted extensive research into the problems currently faced by the Central Asian states. In 2006, the first major international conference on the SCO entitled ‘Ten Years of the Shanghai Co-operation Process and Regional Security Challenges in Central Asia’ took place at IISS. The conference was attended by experts from national strategic institutes, universities and think-tanks from across Central Asia, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia, France, the UK and the US. The programme continues to explore the key political, security and economic challenges in Central Asia and to identify what role the SCO can play to address them.
In March 2008, the programme hosted a major international conference, ‘Central Asia’s Strategic Trends’. The conference attracted over 60 experts, officials and business representatives from 18 countries including several Central Asian states, China, Russia, EU and European states and the US. The growing activity of extremist Islamic groups, social instability related to widespread poverty in rural areas, rising inter-ethnic tensions, and unresolved border and water disputes between Central Asian states are issues which will have a major effect on the future security challenges in Central Asia.
For more information on Central Asian Secuirty, please contact Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia, Oksana Antonenko
