Programme Details
The IISS Russia and Eurasia programme conducts a broad range of activities and research projects on political and security issues in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Throughout 2001 the IISS was working with OSCE and the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development on developing a strategy for international donors for managing the consequences of the Russian military base closure in Akhalakali, Georgia. During April 2001, the IISS together with the Paris-based Institut de Relations Internationales et Strategiques organised a conference in Tbilisi on Crisis Management Strategies for Georgia.
In 2002 the IISS turned its attention to Central Asia 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. The removal of Taliban regime from power had lifted immediate pressure from Afghanistan’s neighbours which were facing a range of direct security threats from insurgencies to drug trafficking and illegal migration. However, in the aftermath of military conflict in Afghanistan, many Central Asian states are confronted with new challenges which are linked to potential security threats within central Asia itself. They include growing activity of extremist Islamic groups, social instability related to a widespread poverty in rural areas, raising inter-ethnic tensions, unresolved border and water disputes between Central Asian states and most recently the threat of domestic political instability, as was illustrated by recent events in Kyrgyztan. In light of these developments, the IISS has launched a series of conferences assessing the prospect for regional cooperation in addressing some of these issues and strategies for greater involvement of Central Asian states in reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan. The first conference took place in June in Tashkent in cooperation with the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the president of Republic of Uzbekistan. Follow-up events are planned in other Central Asian states during 2003-2004.
For more information on the IISS Caucasus and Central Asia programme please contact Oksana Antonenko, Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia (Antonenko@iiss.org) or Christopher Langton, Editor, IISS Military Balance and Research Fellow for Russia and Eurasia (Langton@iiss.org).
Past Conferences
