Crossroads Asia

The EU and Central Asia have a critical opportunity to strengthen their collaboration in the face of evolving geopolitical challenges affecting global trade routes.

Bishkek is on the one hand pursuing an anti-corruption campaign, but at the same time cracking down on the very media that expose such corruption.

The emergency response system did not work properly, top officials said.

The potential for AI to bring about closer regional integration lies in its ability to address some of the traditional barriers to economic cooperation.

Tremors also were felt in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. 

Afghanistan’s market and its position as a trade route that can connect Central Asia to South Asian ports are critically important to Kazakhstan.

The recent detention of journalists and raids on homes and offices mark a further expansion of the Kyrgyz government’s efforts to rein in the country’s media through overt pressure.

It seems this instance of an individual "vomiting up" what he allegedly owed the state has led to some indigestion, and another alleged coup forestalled by the Kyrgyz state. 

Yet again, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan – alongside Saudi Arabia and Pakistan – have been granted waivers from sanctions related to their religious freedom violations.

June 2024 will see the first elections since constitutional changes reconfigured Mongolia’s legislature and electoral system.

“One of the best of our people has left -- and this further complicates relations between the Karakalpaks and the Uzbek authorities,” a fellow Karakalpak activist told The Diplomat.

Goods exported to Russia from China via Central Asia need not be weapons in order to contribute to Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.