This past weekend, I had the chance to host a discussion aimed at forecasting Central Asia’s geopolitical prospects in the coming years. It won’t come as a surprise to many that the consensus prognosis was generally glum with occasional periods of unrestrained pessimism.

The discussion was part of the Riga Conference 2013, an annual event in the Latvian capital that attracts political movers and shakers from OSCE member states. Given the pending withdrawal of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, Central Asia garnered lots of attention at this year’s Riga conference.

Joining me in the discussion were Damon Wilson, the executive vice president of the Atlantic Council in Washington, and Jos Boonstra, a senior researcher at FRIDE and the head of the EUCAM program. 
You can watch the 30-minute discussion here.

Editor's note: Justin Burke is the executive editor of Eurasianet.