Eurasianet

Salaries were always horribly low but living costs have soared since the pandemic began.

Employers are now effectively required to demand proof of vaccinations from their workers. But the country’s health care system is now being pushed to the limit.

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

In our weekly briefing: doing business with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Plus, it’s reprimand season.

The government hopes to boost vaccination rates, but a new anti-vaccine campaign is on the rise.

The new rules come as the country is trying to stave off a third wave of the virus and vaccination numbers remain in the low single digits.

While clumsy on COVID-19, Turkmenistan is being more sure-footed, or consistent at least, on the Afghanistan front. Plus, unsustainable agriculture. Our weekly briefing.

Bunin has also been banned from entering Uzbekistan.

There has been a surge in the number of Pakistanis visiting for tourism.

Central Asia’s largest nations are using unique coronavirus vaccines that haven’t been carefully studied. Do they have a choice?

Iranians have been flooding into Armenia to get COVID vaccines, causing Tehran to complain and Yerevan to tighten the rules.

A few months ago, the thought of taking a Chinese COVID vaccine was unthinkable to Georgians. Now it’s the norm.

Abu Dhabi invests in green energy, China gets another drilling contract, and Ashgabat cuts funding to universities. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

China has delivered 300,000 doses of vaccine, but will the public want them?

Vaccine hesitancy in Uzbekistan is high, bred by social media conspiracies that seem credible in a country without accountable authorities.