Eurasianet

Moscow is working to stop the West engaging in security dialogue with Central Asian states.

The embassy says it refuses to give back the cash.

The Islamic State in Afghanistan is using the Taliban’s cozy relations with Uzbekistan as propaganda fodder.

The conscripts, generally Tajikistan’s poorest young men, are brutalized into service. And they are the country’s first line of defense.

There was much to discuss just over a year after the end of the war, including ongoing border tensions, plans to reopen borders and transportation, and the fate of Armenian prisoners.

Letters from Washington, cybersecurity cooperation with China, and negotiating with a bankrupt Taliban. This and more in our weekly briefing.

Uzbekistan says it will not accept Afghan refugees.

The recent fighting is a challenge to Moscow’s role as a peacemaker. But Russia may not have many options.

Since the Taliban took Kabul, Islamic State sympathizers across South Asia have increased attacks on the movement over its ties to China.

Uzbekistan has been discussed as the most likely contender to accept some sort of U.S. military presence, even as Tashkent consistently denies the possibility.

Moscow seems willing to tolerate Taliban rights abuses, if the movement can get the job done.

It will not be the first border facility China has built for Tajikistan.

Middle-class Afghans with the means to navigate Tajikistan’s bureaucracy see the country as a springboard to the West.

If the Taliban fail at creating a viable state, Uzbekistan has much to lose.

That sets them apart from Afghanistan’s other post-Soviet neighbor, Tajikistan.