President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has furtively engaged the Taliban in peace negotiations, thereby jeopardizing the already rocky relationship with the United States and possibly eroding the limited possibility of a long-term security agreement between the two countries. The news comes at a time when US-Afghan relations have reached their nadir, and seems to contradict…
The official beginning of the election season in Afghanistan got off to a rocky start. Two aides of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah were shot dead in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan on February 1. This comes days after former Minister of Water and Energy, and current running mate of candidate Abu Rasool Sayyaf, Ismail Khan, escaped a suicide…
Tensions have subsided in the Tajik-Kyrgyz border region after meetings between Tajik Primer Minister Murodali Alimardon and his Kyrgyz contemporary Tokon Marnytov yielded a tentative agreement on a plan to demarcate border regions after clashes attracted international attention. The dispute arose as a result of the Kyrgyz construction of a highway within the Fergana Valley…
STEPPE DISPATCHES 