The fluid geopolitical situation arising out of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine has added to the challenges of Turkmenistan’s leadership in implementing their stated neutrality-based foreign policy doctrine.
With the failure of moderates’ Western outreach in the aftermath of US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the conservatives, now in power in Iran, are looking for a long-term partnership with Russia which would bring stability in their shared neighbourhood, geoeconomic opportunities and also weaken the influence of moderates and reformists.
While India may not be a major actor in Central Asia yet it remains an important vector in the regional calculus of the Central Asian Republics. India’s multi-alignment should hold it in good stead in navigating the opportunities and challenges in a region which lies at a proverbial stone’s throw from New Delhi.
SM Krishna’s visit marks the stepping up of India’s newly pronounced ‘connect Central Asia’ policy, although the biggest challenge is convert the proposals into reality.
On the face of it, India and NATO are poles apart. NATO is a military alliance. India is a non-aligned country with an independent foreign policy. Any engagement between India and NATO is, therefore, problematic.
Vice President Hamid Ansari’s visit to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan from April 4 to 10, 2008 opened up new vistas between India and the Central Asian Republics (CARs). During his visit, Ansari asserted that greater engagement between India and CAR would not only prove beneficial for both but will also help to enhance the strategic significance of the region. The Vice President’s visit has opened up new hopes for cooperation especially in the hydrocarbon sector, mainly with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
“Pakistan provides the natural link between the SCO states to connect the Eurasian heartland with the Arabian Sea and South Asia … We offer the critical overland routes and connectivity for mutually beneficial trade and energy transactions intra- regionally and interregionally”
-- President Gen. Pervez Musharraf
June 15, 2006
This article covers the problems of religious identities in two Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – and analyses how globalisation and modernisation influenced them. International relations theories as well the sociology of religion presume that religious identity in contemporary Central Asia cannot be exclusively seen as a local product; it is of a twodimensional character and reflects both local and broad external influences. The article argues that while external dimensions are noteworthy, local developments and modernisation need elaboration.
