In this week’s edition: Tajik authorities claim militants crossed over from Afghanistan, forced labor in Turkmenistan’s cotton fields, Kyrgyz authorities crack down, and more.
More than 2,100 years ago, Zhang Qian set off from what is now the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an as an envoy of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). He braved a world of uncertainties and traveled westward through harsh terrain to Central Asia.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making his first visit to a region that is roiled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine but still loyal to Moscow, while reform drives initiated in the region's two largest countries Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have given way to authoritarian tendencies.
For all its years of independence, Kazakhstan has worried about Russian irredentist dreams of Kazakh territory. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, such