... COVID-19 pandemic on politics and the economy. The participants of the conference also touched demographic, environmental, climatic, economic, and educational issues. In the framework of the regional issues, there was a discussion on China, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the situation in Afghanistan.
On the RIAC side, the meeting was attended by: Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director at the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, RIAC Member; Georgi Asatrian, Research Fellow at the Institute of Scientific Information for ...
On October 6, 2021, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF, India), and Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS, Iran) held a joint roundtable “Developments in Afghanistan and their regional implications: Russian, Indian and Iranian Perspectives”
On October 6, 2021, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF, India), and Institute for Political and International ...
... countries are CSTO members, and they are quite willing to enhance cooperation in the fight against terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.
3. Combatting Cross-Border Terrorism
Russia is keen to combat cross-border terrorism along the axis of Afghanistan—Central Asia—Russia as well as along the contour of Afghanistan—the Middle East—Russia. The threat of militia entering Russia from the Middle East and Afghanistan via Central Asia persists. The same goes for Xinjiang, China, via the respective corridors....
... value of any potential deal with the Taliban is apparently not entirely clear to Russia, China or any of the Central Asian countries
The value of any potential deal with the Taliban is apparently not entirely clear to Russia, China or any of the Central Asian countries. As a rule, they combine active diplomacy towards Afghanistan with active military preparations, writes Valdai Club expert Vasily Kashin.
The defeat and abrupt withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, coupled with the instant collapse of the regime it had built in that country, has raised the ...
... as the revolutionary events unfolded in Iran. Rather, both the Iranian Revolution and the uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria were links in the same chain, attesting to the growth of Islamist sentiments in the Middle East.
Andrey Kazantsev:
Afghanistan Crisis: Security Problems for Russia and Central Asian States
Today, the various groups that stand for moderate Islam
are wondering
whether it was a mistake to strive towards democracy, using its institutions to seize power. We are, in fact, referring to the events in Egypt in 2013 and Tunisia ...
... Libya”.
There is also the issue of “terrorist emigration” by militants of Central Asian origins who might either return home from the Middle East (posing a threat of terrorist attack in their home states), or else go to fight in the neighboring Afghanistan. Central Asian militants present a regional and global terrorist threat. In 2017 alone, they carried out four major terrorist attacks in the U.S., Turkey, Sweden and Russia. Russia, just like the global community as a whole, is therefore interested in ...
... Programs, moderated the discussion.
The experts expressed their views on what is to be done in the current circumstances by the international community, Moscow and Beijing. They also suggested scenarios of the further development of the situation in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Russian and Chinese participants highlighted the importance of discussing the Afghanistan problems with other international partners and of using multilateral mechanisms, mainly the SCO – Afghanistan contact group, more systemically.
... religion of the Central Asian peoples) and the end of the Soviet Union (atheistic policy), which is nowadays leading to growing diplomatic divergences between China and the neighboring states.
Chinese Politics in Central Asia
Beijing’s approach to Central Asia and Afghanistan is not comparable to that of the United States or the Soviet Union in that Beijing is offering to deploy its military troops as compensation for paying the debts of countries, with the agreement of the local governments.
As of today, all Central ...
... as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Their own scale and demographics make absorption and full integration with Russia and Central Asia impossible. At the same time, there are historically strong and fundamental ties between this region and such Central Asian countries as Tajikistan or Uzbekistan. Afghanistan itself is a clear dividing line between East and West, North and South, underpinned by its mountainous topography and complex ethnic composition. An important common task for Russia and the Central Asian states may be to maintain relative ...
... bordering states. Just to mention one example, the illicit Afghan opium trade through the Northern route is mainly directed towards Russia [
ii
].
The progressive disengagement by the United States and NATO has been considered as a substantial loss by the Central Asian countries. By May of this year, according to the Agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan, the US should withdraw their troops from Afghanistan. While this event could reshape Russia’s role in the region, the agreement between the Taliban and Washington seems to overlook the potential consequences for the security of Central ...
