By Sudha Ramachandran (01/22/2015 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani’s recent visit to Beijing was an important milestone in Sino-Afghan relations as it marked the start of China’s enhanced role in Afghanistan, especially as a peacemaker in the war-ravaged country. While Beijing’s close ties with Pakistan will come in handy in dealing with the Taliban, the road to building stability in Afghanistan is littered with landmines. Can Beijing succeed where mightier powers such as the Soviet Union and the United States did not?

By Richard Weitz (01/22/2015 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Kazakhstan stands out in Central Asia and the South Caucasus for its government’s activist diplomacy directed at building institutions, promoting disarmament, and reducing Eurasian conflicts. Astana has sought to ban nuclear tests globally and extend confidence-building mechanisms throughout Asia, and Kazakhstan’s past conflict resolution efforts have addressed Iran, water disputes, and Afghanistan. Kazakhstan’s current mediation effort concerns the Ukraine conflict. Kazakhstan’s recurring challenge, which may disrupt its Ukrainian efforts, is that its ability to resolve disputes is limited in the absence of supporting partners.

By Erica Marat (01/22/2015 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In Central Asia, developments in Ukraine are often seen through the lens of Kremlin propaganda. In Kazakhstan, provocative statements from high-level Russian politicians regarding statehood and separatism in Kazakhstan were reinterpreted and refuted by experts and MPs. In Kyrgyzstan, discussion has been more decentralized and initiated by pro-Russian MPs and NGOs. President Atambayev and other political actors prefer to ignore them, avoiding to blame the Kremlin directly. The influence of Kremlin propaganda poses a more urgent threat to the sovereignty of both countries than does the possibility of Kremlin hard-policy actions to destabilize parts of Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan in a similar fashion to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.