The intelligence agency of Kazakhstan has provided an estimate for how many Kazakh nationals are fighting with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and apparently, half of them are women. Nurtai Abykayev, chairman of the Kazakh National Security Committee (NSC), reported that a new fighting unit or “jamaat” was created by these nationals. These…
The European Union ratcheted up asset seizures, travel bans and financial freezes on funds belonging to Russian officials and pro-Russia separatists, as well as organizations in their favor, though stopped short of sanctioning Russia, their chief patron. The fact that the European Union balked at levying more restrictions on the Russian economy is expected and…
On Saturday, Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani president Nawaz Sharif met for a conference in Islamabad, marking a rekindling of relations between the two adversarial countries. Sharif pledged that he would support President Ghani to bring peace to Afghanistan. Former President Hamid Karzai notoriously blamed Pakistani policy and leaders for the entirety of Afghanistan’s…
India, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan have incorporated a new, joint company that will be used to commission the construction of the TAPI pipeline. The joint company will be owned in equal 25% shares by the four interested parties and will consult with the Asian Development Bank on the pipeline’s eventual development. The TAPI pipeline will…
NATO officials confirmed that Russian military vehicles and armor columns have again entered Ukraine. Vehicles ranging from tanks, artillery transport vehicles and armored personnel carriers were seen crossing the Ukrainian southeastern border. The nature of the crossing appears to be to twofold, with Russia actively seeking to reinforce pro-Russia rebels inhabiting Donetsk on one hand,…
President Almazbek Atambayev, after completing a tour of his neighboring countries in Central Asia, announced a deal on Tuesday with neighboring Kazakhstan that would supply some 1,400 kilowatt hours of electricity to power-starved Kyrgyzstan. Atambayev has been on a tour around Central Asia courting power agreements, and has been able to ink key agreements with…
Dr. John Heathershaw is currently Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Exeter’s Centre of Advanced International Studies. He received his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and has held teaching or research positions at LSE, the American University in Central Asia, and King’s College London. Professor Heathershaw has conducted extensive research on Tajikistan as…
The Ukrainian military reported that columns of Russian armor have rolled across the Russia-Ukraine border and advanced towards rebel locations in the country’s southeast. Movement of Russian forces within this region of Ukraine had previously been criticized by Ukrainian and Western observers and labeled as a “blatant violation of Ukrainian sovereignty” undertaken to resupply pro-Russia…
Representatives from Iran, the US, and the EU began an unscheduled day of talks after reported unresolved disagreements threatened to overturn the framework before deadline, which is looming in just two weeks. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and EU envoy and former foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met in…
Oil inspectors working for the Russian government have begun to investigate “major Russian oil firms” on suspicion of market rigging and price fixing. The inquiry was announced as officials in Moscow begin to suspect that key Russian energy firms have leveraged their status as significant economic players to drive up the price of oil across…
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