Eurasianet

The group said it was avenging an Azerbaijani woman who was "persecuted" by the authorities for writing a Shiite slogan on the wall of her home.

It was the latest in a string of arrests of people accused of smuggling in the territories Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenia in the 2020 war.

The escalation came as Azerbaijan has been trying to push Armenia to speed up the construction of a new road connecting Armenia to Karabakh.

Tashkent sees the link as part of a transcontinental route bypassing Russia.

Both have long-duration electricity supply agreements signed before the Taliban returned to power.

Central Asia sees its economic future in China, not Russia.

Law enforcement sources have said Dzhumagulov might have been plotting to wrest power from gangland leader Kamchybek Kolbayev.

The Taliban have begun a PR blitz against the Islamic State, which has challenged the new Afghan government’s promise to bring peace to the country and its borders.

The cause of the problem may lie in Russians hoovering up all the available greenbacks.

Baku has been reforming its armed forces with a new education system, new weaponry, and a big increase in special forces units. And it is all being modeled after Turkey’s military.

After seizing the country’s most profitable mine, Kyrgyzstan is using new regulations to drive out more private mining companies and place the bulk of the industry into the hands of a single state firm.

The pressure comes months after a crackdown in the Pamirs against followers of the Europe-based religious leader.

What awaits the returnees remains a mystery, however.

A series of personnel appointments connected to the powerful Pashayev family have raised questions about the bank’s independence.

Many of the city's familiar landmarks have fallen as authorities scrub reminders of the Soviet past.