Against the backdrop of a spike of unrest along the border with Afghanistan and in the country itself after the withdrawal of US troops, more and more states in the region are trying to take every opportunity to maintain stability in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. While several regional players such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s enthusiastic endorsement of Central Asia-South Asia connectivity shows that his country is on the verge of completing its envisioned Greater Eurasian Partnership for connecting the supercontinent. Building the Greater Eurasian Partnership (GEP) is one of the top goals of Russian grand strategy. It envisions connecting the supercontinent through infrastructure projects…
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting of Foreign Ministers on Wednesday in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, may have been an under-the-radar affair, but it did reveal the contours of the big picture ahead when it comes to Afghanistan. So let’s see what Russia and China – the SCO’s heavyweights – have been up to. Chinese Foreign…
Eager to enhance its negotiating leverage with the United States and Europe, Iran is projecting imminent membership of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in much the same way it pushed the signing of a much-touted 25-year cooperation agreement with the People’s Republic that has yet to have any real legs. Converting Iran’s SCO observer…
In the event of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan to Tajikistan, Beijing’s response will be inevitable. The White House has widely announced the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan. But they are clearly not going to go far, and all observers are now wondering in which particular country of Central Asia these new…
Ten months after the first meeting of the foreign ministers of China and the five Central Asian states, Beijing has followed through with a second session on May 11 at a gathering in Xi’an, China, hosted by Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The venue is symbolic. The ancient city of Xi’an used to be the ‘terminus…
