Central Asia

The Russia–Ukraine conflict has put Kazakhstan’s foreign policy to a severe test. Though there are similarities between Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the NATO factor doesn’t exist in the case of the latter. In Kazakhstan’s approach to the Russia–Ukraine conflict, it is possible to discern a distinct tilt towards Russia.

• Gitesh Sarma
• April 12, 2022
• IDSA Comments

With the failure of moderates’ Western outreach in the aftermath of US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the conservatives, now in power in Iran, are looking for a long-term partnership with Russia which would bring stability in their shared neighbourhood, geoeconomic opportunities and also weaken the influence of moderates and reformists.

• Deepika Saraswat
• February 24, 2022
• Issue Brief

China’s growing military presence in Central Asia through military exercises, trainings, extending arms assistance and building military infrastructure, has an impact not only on the region but also its neighbours, especially Russia and India.

• Deepak Kumar
• February 03, 2022
• Issue Brief

Neither Russia and China nor the Central Asian countries have a clear strategy on how to handle the rapidly changing canvas in Afghanistan. An ambivalent waiting game tied by slow calibrated response has become the sine qua non strategy for the stakeholders in Afghanistan.

• Deepak Kumar
• September 08, 2021
• Issue Brief

Ladakh is one of the largest administrative units in India, in terms of its territory. Due to its contiguity with Xinjiang and Tibet and its close proximity to Central Asia, and enjoying a central position in the network of overland caravan routes that were linked to the Silk Route, Ladakh acted as an important gateway in the Indo-Central Asian exchange of men, materials and ideas through the ages.

• K. Warikoo
• May 2020
• Strategic Analysis

The international security environment has undergone many changes since the end of the Cold War. There has been a need to adapt the concept of security with the changing conditions and new security situations emerging in different geopolitical locales of the world. The concept of human security gained currency in the wake of international developments in the 1990s following the end of the Cold War. New security threats were identified by scholars and analysts the world over. There was a shift in the way security was conceptualised, i.e.

• Hamidreza Azizi
• January 2018
• Strategic Analysis

India needs to rope in one or more of the Central Asian countries, preferably Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, in the Chabahar project, to fully exploit its potential.

• P. Stobdan
• December 12, 2017
• IDSA Comments

As India enters the Eurasian integration path, it needs to be aware that there is an emerging trend in favour of intra-regional cooperation in Central Asia.

• P. Stobdan
• June 07, 2017
• Issue Brief

Despite the opacity of Central Asian politics, the course of political change in the region is likely to be smooth, which is also essential for peace and stability within and outside Central Asia.

• P. Stobdan
• April 03, 2017
• IDSA Comments

There is a conscious effort on the part of India to re-energise the INSTC. However, sustaining the momentum achieved remains a major challenge before the member countries of the North-South connectivity project.

• Meena Singh Roy
• August 18, 2015
• Issue Brief