By James Purcell Smith (9/24/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since December 2002, there have been increasing signs of a revival of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. In late 2001, this organization renamed itself the Islamic Movement of Turkestan (IMT), thus openly proclaiming its purposes of controlling the entire Central Asian region, disregarding the five existing nation-states and their boundaries. The Kyrgyz newspaper “Vecherniy Bishkek” reported on July 23 that bomb explosions in the “Oberon” market in the Bishkek on December 27, 2002 and in a branch of “Bakay bank” in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh on May 8 were directly linked to the Islamic Movement of Turkestan.By Rafis Abazov (9/24/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In traditional Central Asian societies, the concept of keeping all political power within the extended family has very strong roots. This notion survived 100 years of Russian and later Soviet modernization. It was, therefore, natural for the debate about political succession in Central Asia to switched from procedure to personalities.By Michael Fredholm (9/24/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On July 5, 2003, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up during a rock concert at the Tushino airport in Moscow. This attack was followed on July 9 by an attempted bombing of a restaurant in downtown Moscow, on Tverskaya-Yamskaya street. In addition, a number of explosive devices of the same type as was used on the previous occasions was found stored in Tolstopaltsevo outside Moscow on July 24.By Asma Shakir Khwaja (9/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: During the past months, instances of the use of force and border clashes on the Pakistani-Afghan border have caused the deaths of numerous soldiers on both sides, and created serious misunderstandings among the two states. The border clashes took place shortly after the deployment of Pakistani troops in the tribal are of the Mohmand agency, to block the infiltration of suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda activists from Afghanistan. Afghan tribesmen accused Pakistani troops of setting up checkpoints deep inside Afghan territory.The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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