News Digest
UN DRUGS CHIEF VISITS AFGHANISTAN
By empty (8/24/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has arrived in Afghanistan to visit projects connected with Afghanistan\'s illegal narcotics industry. Antonio Maria Costa will visit two of Afghanistan\'s main poppy growing areas in the north east of the country. Afghanistan is the source of about three quarters of the world\'s supply of opium, which is made from the poppy flower.OPERATIONS CONTINUE AFTER UP TO 50 \'TALIBAN\' KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
By empty (8/25/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Afghan troops backed by US-led forces were continuing operations after local officials said up to 50 suspected Taliban were killed and 75 arrested in ground and air raids across violence-wracked southeastern Afghanistan. \"In this operation 40 to 50 Taliban were killed and their bodies are still laying on the ground,\" a spokesman for the Zabul provincial government Ahmadullah Watan Dost told AFP by satellite telephone late Monday. Some 1,000 Afghan soldiers supported by dozens of US-led coalition troops were carrying out an anti-extremist operation in Zabul\'s Daychopan district, 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of Kabul.AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION LEADERS FAIL TO REACH AGREEMENT ON SINGLE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
By empty (8/25/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The leaders of Azerbaijan\'s four most influential opposition parties -- Isa Gambar (Musavat), Etibar Mamedov (Azerbaijan National Independence Party), Ali Kerimli (Azerbaijan Popular Front Party [AHCP]-reformist wing), and Rasul Guliev (Democratic Party of Azerbaijan) -- failed to reach agreement during talks in London on 24 August on selecting a single opposition candidate to contest the 15 October presidential election. Kerimli stated earlier this month that he would withdraw his candidacy if agreement was reached on a single candidate, but later he said he was reluctant to do so as he believes most voters will vote for him. Gambar, Mamedov, and Kerimli are all registered to contest the ballot, from which Guliev was barred on the grounds that he is resident in the United States and holds U.HEAD OF KYRGYZ HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE REPLACED
By empty (8/22/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The controversial head of the Kyrgyz Human Rights Committee (KHRC), Ramazan Dyryldaev, was replaced on 25 August at a special committee conference in Bishkek. Dyryldaev, who is known for his uncompromising criticism of the government, was replaced by Bolot Tynaliev, former KHRC coordinator for Issyk-Kul Oblast, whom Dyryldaev considers to be unduly influenced by the government. Some KHRC members have accused Dyryldaev of misusing foreign grant funding, particularly some from the Dutch group Hivos.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.