The Times Of Central Asia | Eurasian Publication & News Online

The United States is trying to turn its political dialogue with Central Asia into concrete projects for mining and processing critical minerals. American capital is already moving into Kazakhstan’s tungsten sector and has long been present in Tajikistan’s antimony industry, while Washington is looking more closely at the mineral potential...

World Nomad Games

Western Tourism Interest Grows Around World Nomad Games

More than 3,000 athletes from 104 countries gathered in Bishkek on August 31 as the World Nomad Games returned to Kyrgyzstan, a sharp increase from the 583 competitors from 19 countries who attended the inaugural event at Issyk-Kul 12 years ago. Tour operators are also seeing more Western travelers, many...

Central Asia - Afghanistan Relations

Five Years Without Recognition: How Central Asia Is Building Relations with Afghanistan

Five years of Taliban rule have shown that international relations with an unrecognized government can go much further than many imagined after the fall of Kabul in August 2021. Russia remains the only country to have formally recognized Afghanistan’s current authorities, yet the complete isolation some expected has not materialized....

World Nomad Games

One Target, 145 Meters: Kyrchyn’s Archers Take on Korea’s Long-Range Test

World Nomad Games

Inside a Universe of Culture at the World Nomad Games

Of all the sites at the 6th World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan, the “Universe of Nomads” ethno-town is arguably the most interesting. Its setting is Kyrchyn jailoo, a large summer pasture in Semenov Gorge, where the forested slopes of the Kungey Ala-Too Mountains rise around it. The location feels far...

World Nomad Games

Britain’s Horseback Archers Ride Into Kyrchyn at the World Nomad Games

Central Asia-U.S. Relations

In Bishkek, Gor and Daines Put Business First

U.S. Special Envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor and U.S. Senator Steve Daines used their visit to Bishkek this week to put business squarely at the center of Washington's engagement with Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, with discussions focused on investment, trade, infrastructure and practical steps for turning ideas...

Russia’s Return to Afghanistan, New Chinese Jets, and Kazakhstan’s Legislative Election

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Dastan
Short Stories from the Region

Dastan: Sobir Ruziev, Soviet Fencer Who Elevated Uzbek Sport

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Opinions

From Lenin to Kenesary: What Kazakhstan’s Renamed Streets Say About Power

Issatay Minuarov

Opinion: Why Central Asia Cannot Afford to Abandon the Iranian Route

Timur Serikuly

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan Show What Diplomacy Can Deliver as Vast Rail Project with China Advances

Javier M. Piedra

Uzbekistan’s Heritage Did Not Stop With the Silk Road

Mathieu Lemoine

Opinion: Kazakhstan’s Demining Expertise Could Provide Boost to Afghanistan

Timur Serikuly

Opinion: Uzbekistan Census – When the Village Reappears in the City

Zamirbek Minbaev

Opinion: The Specter Is Back – A Kazakh Warning to America

Askar Alimzhanov

Opinion: The Amu Darya Stress Test – Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the Politics of Agricultural Adaptation

Zamirbek Minbaev

Opinion: Kazakhstan’s New Income Growth Plan – Administrative Measures Against Market Realities

Igor Klevtsov

Opinion: Central Asia’s Shift from Silk Road Romance to Infrastructure Finance – What the June Forums Are Building

Dr. Magsud Mammadov

UNDP Opinion: Central Asia – Shared Wildlife, Shared Landscapes, Shared Responsibility

UNDP Representatives in Kazakhstan, Katarzyna Wawiernia, Kyrgyzstan, Alexandra Solovieva, Tajikistan, Sudipto Mukerjee, Turkmenistan, Narine Sahakyan, Uzbekistan, Akiko Fujii.

Opinion: Beyond Multivectorism – What Kyrgyzstan’s UN Security Council Win Really Shows

Zamirbek Minbaev

Business & Economy

Nuclear Energy

Uzbekistan Plans Joint Venture to Oversee Nuclear Power Plant

Uzbekistan has proposed creating a joint engineering venture with a foreign partner to provide independent technical oversight of its first nuclear power plant. The venture would review the plant’s design and equipment and monitor construction quality at the site in the Jizzakh region. Uzbekistan’s Atomic Energy Agency (Uzatom) set out the proposal in a September 4 report. The agency has not named potential foreign participants or said when the venture could be established. Construction formally began on June 4 with the first concrete pour for the plant’s first small modular reactor unit. Foundation work is now underway. The project calls...

World Nomad Games

Western Tourism Interest Grows Around World Nomad Games

Nuclear Power Plant

Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plant Contract Signed with Rosatom

Nuclear Power Plant

Uzbekistan Nuclear Power Plant Targets More Local Production in $9.5 Billion Project

Agricultural technologies

Kazakhstan Tests Drone System for Releasing Beneficial Insects To Fight Agricultural Pests

Kyrgyzstan-Pakistan Trade

Kyrgyzstan-Pakistan Trade: 12-Fold Growth or Pipe Dream?

One of the most notable of Kyrgyzstan’s agreements at the SCO Summit in Bishkek last week may be its deal with Pakistan to boost annual bilateral trade to US$200 million within the next two years. From a base of roughly US$16 million in 2025, that would represent roughly a twelvefold increase. It's an ambitious target, made more so by associated geoeconomic undercurrents. As long as Bishkek avoids taking sides in any Indo-Pakistan unresolved border or other geopolitical disputes and sticks to trade and commercial issues, Kyrgyzstan should have little to worry about. President Sadyr Japarov emphasized the economic benefits, casting...

Oil Supply

Kyrgyzstan Fuel Supply Shifts Toward Domestic Refining

Kyrgyzstan is trying to reduce its dependence on imported gasoline and diesel by refining more fuel at home. The country still relies overwhelmingly on Russia for its motor fuels, but in August it received 35,000 tons of crude through a newly opened transit route across Kazakhstan – more crude in one month than Kyrgyzstan imported during the whole of 2025, when trade data recorded about 26,400 tons. The oil is believed to be Russian, meaning the shift does not reduce Kyrgyzstan’s dependence on Russian energy itself. Instead, it gives Bishkek another option: importing crude rather than finished fuel and using...

Geology

Kazakhstan Mineral Deposits: 54 New Sites Added to State Register

Kazakhstan is looking beyond its traditional strengths in oil, gold, and iron ore as it expands its mineral resource base. Fifty-four deposits were added to the state register in 2024 and 2025, while geologists are focusing more closely on lithium, tungsten, and rare earth elements as demand grows alongside clean-energy and high-tech manufacturing. The state register is Kazakhstan’s official inventory of mineral deposits, recording their resources and reserves, level of exploration and development, and changes resulting from extraction or reassessment. In 2024, 35 deposits were added to the register for the first time, followed by another 19 a year later....

Turkmenistan gas

Turkmenistan Gas Expansion in Caspian Advances with Petronas

Turkmenistan is expanding offshore gas development in the Caspian Sea, while increasing production at existing fields and seeking new markets for its gas. Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas has secured two new offshore blocks after nearly 30 years in the country, while UAE-based XRG has joined it in the existing Block I project. Petronas Expands in the Caspian Petronas reported in late August that it had signed agreements covering offshore Blocks 19 and 20 in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. The agreements themselves were signed in June. Turkmenistan also plans geological surveys at four additional blocks — 11, 12, 13,...

Local Politics

Government Appointments

New Kazakhstan Government Retains Core Economic Team

Kazakhstan completed the formation of its first government under the country’s new unicameral parliament on September 3. Olzhas Bektenov remains prime minister and the core economic team will stay in place, but there were changes at the foreign, culture and information, ecology, and emergency situations ministries. The government resigned on August 28 following the election of the Kurultai, Kazakhstan’s new unicameral parliament, which replaced the Senate and Mazhilis. Ministers continued serving in an acting capacity while the new cabinet was formed. On August 31, the Kurultai approved Bektenov’s candidacy for prime minister. He received 137 votes, with seven lawmakers abstaining...

Government appointments

Mukhtar Tleuberdi Returns as Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister

Government

Kazakhstan Vice President and Prime Minister Approved by Parliament

Sports Funding

Kazakhstan Olympic Delegations Capped After Spending Audit

AI in Education

Tokayev Criticizes Delays in Kazakhstan’s School AI Rollout

GKNB

Maksat Asanaliyev Approved as Kyrgyzstan Security Service Chief

On September 2, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved the appointment of Maksat Asanaliyev as chairman of the State Committee for National Security, the country’s main security and intelligence agency, usually known by its Russian acronym GKNB. Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh, gave its consent to Asanaliyev’s appointment following a nomination by President Sadyr Japarov. His appointment was approved by 87 votes to zero, with lawmakers asking no questions about his candidacy. Asanaliyev, 48, spent around nine years as a GKNB investigator before moving to the prosecutor’s office in 2010. He later served as a district prosecutor in Bishkek and prosecutor of the...

Akorda

Erlan Karin’s Appointment Links Reform and National Identity

When President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev put forward Erlan Karin for vice president on August 31, he called him “a genuine patriot” with long experience in government. He also stressed Karin’s part in implementing major reforms, his grasp of long-term state strategy and his understanding of Kazakhstan’s prospects for socioeconomic development. Karin has spent seven years in senior posts under Tokayev. He also has a sustained interest in a question that runs through the president’s agenda — how Kazakhstan can modernize while remaining connected to its own history and national identity. Tokayev proposed creating the vice presidency in January as an institution...

Kazakhstan's Parliament

Kazakhstan’s Kurultai Has Begun Work, but the Intrigue Remains

Kazakhstan’s new unicameral parliament, the Kurultai, has held its first session and elected President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s nominee, Aibek Dadebay, as speaker. The choice of Dadebay, chairman of the recently created Adilet party, had been widely expected. Nevertheless, the arrangement differs markedly from the way political authority was organized under Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Under Nazarbayev, the ruling party – first Otan and later Nur Otan – was headed by the president himself, while its day-to-day work was managed by a first deputy chairman. The party’s parliamentary leadership was separate, while the Senate speaker was formally elected from a candidate...

Opinion

From Lenin to Kenesary: What Kazakhstan’s Renamed Streets Say About Power

In July 2026, a new constitutional law on Kazakhstan’s administrative-territorial structure came into force. It retained a layered process for changing place names: local authorities must consider residents’ views, while onomastic commissions review proposals before final decisions are made. The previous legal framework dated to 1993. Replacing it with a constitutional law did not dismantle the machinery of onomastic policy but consolidated the roles of public consultation, local government and official commissions. The law formalized a system built over three decades, during which thousands of streets were renamed but the country’s urban map changed at markedly different speeds. Kazakhstan’s experience...

International Affairs

Jackson-Vanik Amendment

Kazakhstan Takes Center Stage in U.S. House Critical Minerals Hearing

Kazakhstan’s growing role in global critical-mineral supply chains came into sharp focus on Capitol Hill on September 2. During a nearly four-hour hearing of the full U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, lawmakers and expert witnesses repeatedly presented the country as a major resource producer, an established U.S. supplier and a strategically important partner in Central Asia. The hearing, titled "Strategic Partnerships to Secure Critical Resources and Supply Chains," covered a broad range of issues, including domestic mining, processing capacity, Africa and trade policy. Kazakhstan nevertheless emerged as one of the hearing’s most frequently cited country examples. Three of the...

Central Asia-U.S. Relations

In Bishkek, Gor and Daines Put Business First

С5+Korea

What to Expect from the First Central Asia South Korea Summit

SCO Summit

SCO Summit Delivers Institutional Reform but Leaves Development Bank Unsettled

J-10CE fighter jets

Uzbekistan J-10CE Fighter Jets Confirmed in Official Footage

South East Asia

Kazakhstan Laos Seek to Link Transport Corridors Through China

Kazakhstan wants to connect its rail and logistics network with the China-Laos Railway, opening a possible route for Lao goods to Central Asia and Europe and for Kazakh exports into Southeast Asia. Much of the infrastructure already exists: both countries’ networks connect through China. What is missing are the agreements needed to make regular freight traffic between them practical. The idea was one of the main topics during Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith’s first official visit to Kazakhstan on September 3. During talks with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, trade, transport and logistics were high on the agenda. Tokayev specifically offered Lao freight...

Uzbekistan-India Relations

Uzbekistan India Trade Target Rises to $5 Billion as Uranium Cooperation Expands

Uzbekistan and India want to increase bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2030 – nearly four times the 2025 level. During talks between Uzbekistan's president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, in Tashkent, uranium, critical minerals, and industrial cooperation were among the key economic issues. However, trade growth continues to run up against a longstanding problem: there is no direct overland route between India and Central Asia, prompting Tashkent and New Delhi to again look toward transport corridors through Iran. Modi visited Uzbekistan on August 29-30, his fourth trip to the country. Following the talks, bilateral relations were...

Fertilizer Plant

Kyrgyzstan Fertilizer Plant Opens With $260 Million Chinese Investment

Kyrgyzstan has opened a major mineral fertilizer plant after years of dependence on imports. The $260 million project is being developed with a Chinese investor in the country’s south. Its first production line has an annual capacity of 100,000 tons, while the capacity announced for the completed project would significantly exceed current domestic demand. The plant opened on August 28 in the village of Torobai Kulatov in the Osh region. The first production line is currently operating in test mode. According to the Kyrgyz government, its capacity is 100,000 tons of fertilizer per year. At the next stage, capacity is...

Education Ban Mo

Kazakhstan to Open First Ban Mo Workshop as China Expands Industrial Training

China is expanding another dimension of its presence in Kazakhstan – training specialists for industry. The country’s first Ban Mo Workshop will open in Almaty, where students will be trained to work with modern manufacturing technologies and equipment. Ban Mo is a Shandong-backed vocational education initiative designed to link technical training with the needs of companies operating overseas. The center will be established at Satbayev University in partnership with Shandong University of Engineering and Vocational Technologies, after an agreement was reached during a visit by a Kazakh delegation to Shandong Province. The workshop aims to give students practical experience with...

Life & Culture

World Nomad Games

Kyrgyzstan Beats Kazakhstan 12-0 to Win World Nomad Games Kok Boru Gold

Kyrgyzstan has won the kok-boru title at the 6th World Nomad Games after overwhelming Kazakhstan 12-0 in Sunday’s final at the Kok-Boru Arena in Cholpon-Ata. The hosts dominated the match and shut Kazakhstan out entirely. In the third period, Baytegin Omorbekov, Ernazar Koshumbaev, and Mirbek Mukashev added to Kyrgyzstan’s total, before Anarbek uulu Seitbek scored again as the margin widened. [video width="478" height="850" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/A-gY_JlG.mp4"][/video] The victory gave Kyrgyzstan the gold medal, with Kazakhstan taking silver and Russia bronze. The medal ceremony was held later on Sunday in Cholpon-Ata. The sport combines horsemanship, strength, and close physical contact, and remains one...

World Nomad Games

A Little Bit of America at the World Nomad Games

World Nomad Games

Inside a Universe of Culture at the World Nomad Games

Tazy dogs

From Steppe Hunting to the World Dog Show: Kazakhstan Marks First Tazy and Tobet Day

World Nomad Games

Kyrgyzstan Beats United States 16-7 as Kok Boru Opens at World Nomad Games

Obituary

Sobir Ruziev, Soviet Fencer Who Elevated Uzbek Sport, Dies at 73

He was once described as Uzbekistan’s chief musketeer. Born in what was the Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, Sobir Ruziev moved to Tashkent, was selected as a teen-ager by a fencing coach and rose to the top of the sport as a Soviet athlete, earning a silver medalist in the team foil category in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and coming fourth in the individual competition. He later helped to build sports institutions in an independent Uzbekistan. On August 22 of this year, Ruziev’s death was announced by the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan. The committee, which noted he was one of...

World Nomad Games

One Target, 145 Meters: Kyrchyn’s Archers Take on Korea’s Long-Range Test

The archers formed a long, uneven line across the grass at Kyrchyn Gorge on Friday, bows rising almost in unison beneath a bank of clouds. Their target was 145 meters away, far enough for the arrows to climb visibly before dropping back toward the range. It was the final and most unfamiliar test in the World Nomad Games’ traditional ground archery program: a Korean-style competition at a distance many of the international entrants had never attempted before. [video width="1024" height="576" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/WhatsApp-Video-2026-09-04-at-17.18.45.mp4"][/video] A total of 196 archers from 51 countries took part in the traditional archery program at Kyrchyn. The first...

World Nomad Games

Britain’s Horseback Archers Ride Into Kyrchyn at the World Nomad Games

At Kyrchyn Gorge on Thursday, a British rider released an arrow at a target from horseback as her steed carried her between the course markers, with the green slopes of the Tian Shan rising behind the World Nomad Games venue. Horseback archery brings the two disciplines together in a single run. Riders must control the horse while nocking, drawing, and releasing arrows at targets as they move down the track. The official Kyrgyz-style rules require the horse to remain in motion throughout the run. [video width="1024" height="576" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/This-one.mp4"][/video] The Games use two horseback archery formats. In the Kyrgyz style, riders...

Contemporary Music

It’s a Marvel vs. DC Musical Battle – in Turkmenistan

A Turkmen string orchestra plans to perform soundtracks from Marvel and DC superhero movies in Ashgabat this month. On September 17, the Tahir Atayev Orchestra will play theme music associated with Spider-Man, Thor, Batman, and other comic-book icons, promising “a true symphonic confrontation between two worlds.” The event will happen at the Magtymguly National Music and Drama Theater, one of Turkmenistan’s most important cultural venues. The theater, which has a dome and marble columns, can seat about 750 people. Ashgabat Events, a local platform, provides a phone number for ticket inquiries, but doesn’t say how much they cost. The Tahir...

Justice

Illegal Migration

Uzbekistan Proposes Up to 15 Years in Prison for Organizing Illegal Migration

Uzbekistan wants to introduce a separate criminal offense for organizers of illegal migration, carrying penalties of up to 15 years in prison. The proposal comes at a time when large numbers of Uzbeks continue to work abroad, with Russia still the largest destination, even as conditions for migrant workers there become increasingly restrictive and risky. The draft amendments are open for public discussion until September 8. They would create a new criminal offense for organizing or assisting illegal migration for financial gain, including arranging unlawful border crossings or transit through Uzbekistan. Penalties would start at three to five years in prison...

Bloggers’ Rights

Uzbekistan’s New Bloggers’ Council Has No Confirmed Leader

Cybersecurity

Kazakhstan Examines Data Leak Claim Involving 15 Million People

Bride Kidnapping

Bride Kidnapping in Central Asia: Why the Practice Persists Despite Tougher Laws

Gulnara Karimova

Swiss Court Fines Lombard Odier $3.7 Million in Karimova Money-Laundering Case

Psychology

Psychologists in Kyrgyzstan Face New Regulation Push

Parents in Kyrgyzstan have been contacting member of parliament Elvira Surabaldieva with a basic question: the person counseling their child online calls themselves a psychologist, but are they actually qualified? There is currently no unified system through which families can check. The authorities now want to establish uniform rules for psychologists for the first time. The bill is being prepared by member of parliament Elvira Surabaldieva. The initiative followed requests from parents and other citizens who wanted to verify the qualifications of people offering psychological services online. According to Surabaldieva, some begin providing consultations after two- or three-month courses, while...

Kamchybek Tashiyev

Kyrgyz Prosecutors Seek Nine-Year Prison Terms for Tashiyev and Seven Others

Kyrgyz prosecutors are asking an appeals court to send former security chief Kamchybek Tashiyev and seven other defendants to prison. A lower court convicted all eight in July of preparing to seize power by force, but allowed them to remain free on probation. The appeal is being heard by the Bishkek City Court, with the hearing taking place behind closed doors. Prosecutors are challenging the sentences handed down by the trial court. The “Letter of 75” case arose from an open letter signed on February 9 by 75 politicians, former officials, and public figures. The authors called for an early presidential...

Islam and National Identity

Dombra Dispute and Niqab Bans Fuel Religious Debate in Central Asia

Standing before a court in Aktobe in June, 35-year-old Azat Konys apologized to “the entire Kazakh people” for insulting one of the country’s most cherished cultural symbols. Two months earlier, during a TikTok livestream, he had declared the dombra forbidden under Islam, compared the two-stringed instrument to part of the devil’s anatomy and called clerics from Kazakhstan’s official Islamic authority “dogs of hell.” Konys asked the court not to imprison him. The judge instead sentenced him to three years and six months for inciting religious and national hatred. The controversy began when Konys cited the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic...

Kyrgyz-Uzbek Border

Kyrgyzstan Uncovers Suspected Smuggling Tunnel on Uzbek Border

Authorities in Kyrgyzstan have uncovered an underground tunnel on the border with Uzbekistan that is believed to have been built for smuggling goods, 24.kg reported, citing the Batken Regional Department of Internal Affairs. According to the police, officers from the department responsible for combating extremism and illegal migration received information that an underground passage was being constructed to move goods illegally across the border. During an inspection of an abandoned house on Mamazhanov Street in the village of Chechelik, Kadamjay District, investigators discovered a tunnel leading toward neighboring Uzbekistan. According to the regional police department, the tunnel is approximately 12...

Environment

Glaciers

Tajikistan Glacier Mudflows Warning Issued as Climate Risks Grow

Tajikistan’s government is warning people in several mountainous regions about the threat of “localized and glacial mudflows” in the next few days, highlighting the hazards faced by some communities in a country where glaciers are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change. The warning comes days after a landslide and the collapse of part of a glacier set off catastrophic flooding in Nepal that, according to the official figures on Tuesday, killed more than 1,000 people and left about 4,000 people missing. While the likelihood of a similar event occurring in Tajikistan is difficult to gauge, authorities there are aware of...

Semipalatinsk Test Site

Tokayev Calls for Nuclear Talks 35 Years After Semipalatinsk Closure

Aral Sea

Aral Sea Restoration Could Prevent 605 Million Tons of CO2 Emissions

Aral Sea

Kazakhstan’s North Aral Recovery Anchors Broader Environmental Push

Water Security

Kazakhstan Seeds Clouds as Kyrgyzstan Questions Regional Impact

Methane Emissions

Turkmenistan Methane Emissions Under Scrutiny After 192 UN Alerts

UN satellite monitoring has identified Turkmenistan as one of the world’s most serious methane hotspots, with 192 alerts for the country issued over the past year. Three of the six largest leaks detected globally by the system over the past six months were in Turkmenistan, as were nine of the top 50. Eight major leaks have since been stopped after repairs. For Ashgabat, however, the issue is also taking on commercial significance: new EU rules are gradually linking access for imported gas to the European market with its methane footprint. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has confirmed eight cases...

Opinion

Can Uzbekistan’s Green Transition Offset Its Gas Decline?

Uzbekistan faces a widening energy gap. Natural gas production peaked in 2008 and, after a partial recovery in the late 2010s, has fallen sharply. Official figures show output dropped from 61.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2018 to 41.5 bcm in 2024. Production fell another 15% year on year in the first quarter of 2026. The gap is already being filled from abroad. Russian gas deliveries rose 15% in 2025 to nearly 6.5 bcm, while Uzbekistan also imports gas from Turkmenistan. Renewable electricity cannot replace every household or industrial use of gas. It can reduce the volume burned in power...

Desertification

UN Desertification Forum Highlights Central Asian Land Degradation

Mongolia is hosting a United Nations (UN) conference on combating desertification this month, with delegates from Central Asian countries discussing cooperation on the challenges of climate change, water scarcity, and sustaining vast ecosystems such as the Eurasian steppes. Bakhodur Sheralizoda, chairman of Tajikistan’s Committee for Environmental Protection, was among speakers appealing for more regional and international cooperation in the face of land degradation, desertification, and drought. While the meeting in Ulaanbaatar is aimed at the protection of rangeland and grassland ecosystems, Sheralizoda also noted the importance of preserving mountain ecosystems such as those that cover most of Tajikistan’s territory. He...

Environmental Safeguards

Pasture Gives Way to Solar Power in Uzbekistan as Audit Remains Unpublished

Each spring, nine households grazed livestock on a stretch of desert pasture in Uzbekistan’s Bukhara Region. The land is now the site of the Nur Bukhara solar and battery plant, but an audit intended to show whether promised livelihood protections worked remains unpublished. Seven of the households came from the nearby settlement of Kirilishon and used the state-owned pasture without permits or formal agreements. A herder and his partner, identified publicly only as H1 and H2, grazed animals there through a short-term agreement with Alat Qorakolchilik LLC, a local livestock company holding a sublease on the land. The nine households included...

Kazakhstan Takes Center Stage in U.S. House Critical Minerals Hearing

Latest

Features

Features

Russia’s Return to Afghanistan, New Chinese Jets, and Kazakhstan’s Legislative Election

Latest

Dastan: Sobir Ruziev, Soviet Fencer Who Elevated Uzbek Sport

Russia’s Return to Afghanistan, New Chinese Jets, and Kazakhstan’s Legislative Election

Dastan: Sobir Ruziev, Soviet Fencer Who Elevated Uzbek Sport

Opinions

Opinions

Issatay Minuarov

Timur Serikuly

Javier M. Piedra

Mathieu Lemoine

Timur Serikuly

Zamirbek Minbaev

Askar Alimzhanov

Zamirbek Minbaev

Igor Klevtsov

Dr. Magsud Mammadov

UNDP Representatives in Kazakhstan, Katarzyna Wawiernia, Kyrgyzstan, Alexandra Solovieva, Tajikistan, Sudipto Mukerjee, Turkmenistan, Narine Sahakyan, Uzbekistan, Akiko Fujii.

Zamirbek Minbaev

Business & Economy

Business & Economy

Uzbekistan Plans Joint Venture to Oversee Nuclear Power Plant

Kyrgyzstan-Pakistan Trade: 12-Fold Growth or Pipe Dream?

Kyrgyzstan Fuel Supply Shifts Toward Domestic Refining

Kazakhstan Mineral Deposits: 54 New Sites Added to State Register

Turkmenistan Gas Expansion in Caspian Advances with Petronas

Local Politics

Local Politics

New Kazakhstan Government Retains Core Economic Team

Maksat Asanaliyev Approved as Kyrgyzstan Security Service Chief

Erlan Karin’s Appointment Links Reform and National Identity

Kazakhstan’s Kurultai Has Begun Work, but the Intrigue Remains

From Lenin to Kenesary: What Kazakhstan’s Renamed Streets Say About Power

International Affairs

International Affairs

Kazakhstan Takes Center Stage in U.S. House Critical Minerals Hearing

Kazakhstan Laos Seek to Link Transport Corridors Through China

Uzbekistan India Trade Target Rises to $5 Billion as Uranium Cooperation Expands

Kyrgyzstan Fertilizer Plant Opens With $260 Million Chinese Investment

Kazakhstan to Open First Ban Mo Workshop as China Expands Industrial Training

Life & Culture

Life & Culture

Kyrgyzstan Beats Kazakhstan 12-0 to Win World Nomad Games Kok Boru Gold

Sobir Ruziev, Soviet Fencer Who Elevated Uzbek Sport, Dies at 73

One Target, 145 Meters: Kyrchyn’s Archers Take on Korea’s Long-Range Test

Britain’s Horseback Archers Ride Into Kyrchyn at the World Nomad Games

It’s a Marvel vs. DC Musical Battle – in Turkmenistan

Justice

Justice

Uzbekistan Proposes Up to 15 Years in Prison for Organizing Illegal Migration