In our weekly briefing: The Taliban visit Ashgabat, the dauphin is received by Uzbekistan’s president, and authorities tighten control after unrest in neighboring Kazakhstan.
Georgia’s huge contributions to the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan were a key part of its strategy to join the West. Now there are fears about an isolationist turn from Washington.
Central Asian leaders are engaged in a balancing act, showing they are content to live with the Taliban’s ascendancy in Afghanistan while signaling they will deal firmly with any trouble that might spill over.