BISHKEK (TCA) — Turkey has called on Beijing to respect the rights of Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic minority living in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and to close the so-called re-education camps where up to a million Uyghurs are reportedly held. “We invite the Chinese authorities to respect the fundamental human rights of Uighur Turks and to close the internment camps. We call on the international community and the Secretary General of the United Nations to take effective measures in order to bring to an end this human tragedy in Xinjiang,” spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry Hami Aksoy said in a statement published on the ministry’s website on February 9. We are republishing the following article on the issue, written by James M. Dorsey*:

In perhaps the most significant condemnation to date of China’s brutal crackdown on Turkic Muslims in its north-western province of Xinjiang, Turkey’s foreign ministry demanded this weekend that Chinese authorities respect human rights of the Uighurs and close what it termed “concentration camps” in which up to one million people are believed to be imprisoned.

Calling the crackdown an “embarrassment to humanity,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said the death of detained Uighur poet and musician Abdurehim Heyit had prompted the ministry to issue its statement.

Known as the Rooster of Xinjiang, Mr. Heyit symbolized the Uighurs’ cultural links to the Turkic world, according to Adrian Zenz, a European School of Culture and Theology researcher who has done pioneering work on the crackdown.

Turkish media asserted that Mr. Heyit, who was serving an eight-year prison sentence, had been tortured to death.

Mr. Aksoy said Turkey was calling on other countries and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to take steps to end the “humanitarian tragedy” in Xinjiang.

The Chinese embassy in Ankara rejected the statement as a “violation of the facts,” insisting that China was fighting separatism, extremism and terrorism, not seeking to “eliminate” the Uighurs’ ethnic, religious or cultural identity.

Mr. Aksoy’s statement contrasted starkly with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s declaration six months earlier that China was Turkey’s economic partner of the future.
At the time, Turkey had just secured a US$3.6 billion loan for its energy and telecommunications sector from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

The Turkish statement constitutes the first major crack in the Muslim wall of silence that has enabled the Chinese crackdown, the most frontal assault on Islam in recent memory. The statement’s significance goes beyond developments in Xinjiang.

Like with Muslim condemnation of US President Donald J. Trump’s decision last year to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Turkey appears to want to be seen as a spokesman of the Muslim world in its one-upmanship with Saudi Arabia and to a lesser degree Iran.

While neither the [Saudi] kingdom or Iran are likely to follow Turkey’s example any time soon, the statement raises the stakes and puts other contenders for leadership on the defensive.

The bulk of the Muslim world has remained conspicuously silent with only Malaysian leaders willing to speak out and set an example by last year rejecting Chinese demands that a group of Uighur asylum seekers be extradited to China. Malaysia instead allowed the group to go to Turkey.

The Turkish statement came days after four Islamist members of the Kuwaiti parliament organized the Arab world’s first public protest against the crackdown.

By contrast, Pakistani officials backed off initial criticism and protests in countries like Bangladesh and India have been at best sporadic.

Like the Turkish statement, a disagreement between major Indonesian religious leaders and the government on how to respond to the crackdown raises questions about sustainability of the wall of silence.

Rejecting a call on the government to condemn the crackdown by the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country’s top clerical body, Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla insisted that the government would not interfere in the internal affairs of others.

The council was one of the first, if not the first, major Muslim religious body to speak out on the issues of the Uighurs. Its non-active chairman and spiritual leader of Nahdlaltul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization, Ma’ruf Amin, is running as President Joko Widodo’s vice-presidential candiate in elections in April.

The Turkish statement could have its most immediate impact in Central Asia, which like Turkey has close ethnic and cultural ties to Xinjiang, and is struggling to balance relations with China with the need to be seen to be standing up for the rights of its citizens and ethnic kin.

In Kazakhstan, Turkey’s newly found assertiveness towards China could make it more difficult for the government to return to China Sayragul Sautbay, a Chinese national of ethnic Kazakh descent and a former re-education camp employee who fled illegally to Kazakhstan to join her husband and child.

Ms. Sautbay, who stood trial in Kazakhstan last year for illegal entry, is the only camp instructor to have worked in a reeducation camp in Xinjiang teaching inmates Mandarin and Communist Party propaganda and spoken publicly about it.

She has twice been refused asylum in Kazakhstan and is appealing the decision. China is believed to be demanding that she be handed back to the Xinjiang authorities.

Similarly, Turkey’s statement could impact the fate of Qalymbek Shahman, a Chinese businessman of Kazakh descent, who is being held at the airport in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent after being denied entry into Kazakhstan.

“I was born in Emin county in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to a farming family. I wanted to go to Kazakhstan, because China’s human rights record was making life intolerable. I would have my ID checked every 50 to 100 meters when I was in Xinjiang, This made me extremely anxious, and I couldn’t stand it anymore,” Mr. Shahman said in a video clip sent to Radio Free Asia from Tashkent airport.

A guide for foreign businessmen, Mr. Shahman said he was put out of business by the continued checks that raised questions in the minds of his clients and persuaded local businessmen not to work with him.

Said Mr. Zenz, the Xinjiang scholar, commenting on the significance of the Turkish statement: “A major outcry among the Muslim world was a key missing piece in the global Xinjiang row. In my view, it seems that China’s actions in Xinjiang are finally crossing a red line among the world’s Muslim communities, at least in Turkey, but quite possibly elsewhere.”

* Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. James is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title and a co-authored volume, Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa as well as Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa and recently published China and the Middle East: Venturing into the Maelstrom

TASHKENT (TCA) — The first round of negotiations on the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Uzbekistan and the European Union was held in Tashkent last week. Through an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), the European Union would be able to better support the ongoing ambitious reforms in Uzbekistan, in particular the recent steps towards democratisation and market economy, as well as the new dynamism in regional cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, the Delegation of the European Union to Uzbekistan said.

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KABUL (TCA) — Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, during a visit to the country’s Nangarhar province on February 10, said the Afghan government is ready to allow the Taliban to open an office in Kabul, Kandahar or Nangarhar, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — The Kyrgyz Government proposed to corporatize the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu State Enterprise (Kyrgyz Railways). The issue was discussed on February 5 at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Communications, Architecture and Construction.

“At the initial stage, we propose to create a joint venture with a potential investor in freight forwarding. We believe that this will allow us to attract additional financial resources for the development of the railway industry. It is also planned to introduce a mechanism of state and private participation in financing the railway transport modernization,” said Kyrgyz Temir Jolu General Director Kanatbek Abdykerimov, who was appointed to head the company three months ago. Former CEO Almazbek Nogoibaev was dismissed after being accused of corruption by MPs.

Some deputies are skeptical about the idea of the enterprise’s transformation into a joint stock company. The Kyrgyz Temir Jolu had already been renamed into the national company, but it has not brought any results. In is necessary to develop the railway network and connect the north and south of the country by the railways, the MPs said.

Timber, metal building materials from Russia and other cargoes that pass along the Bishkek—Osh highway have put this motor road in poor condition, MPs said. It is necessary to transport such cargoes through railways only, the MPs believe. They asked the Transport Ministry to make every effort to remedy the situation.

The Kyrgyz Temir Jolu is now negotiating with banks on buying of new passenger and freight cars this year. The shortage of freight cars hinders the development of the country’s coal industry and creates difficulties for entrepreneurs, the MPs added.

The purchase of freight cars in the near future would allow increasing the exports of goods from the southern regions of the country.

Following the discussion, the parliamentary committee members suggested the Government to reduce by 50% the company’s net profit payment to the national budget and to allocate the released funds for modernization of the track infrastructure.

Background

The Kyrgyz Temir Jolu was established in 2005 as a successor to the Kyrgyz Railways, which, in turn, inherited the functions of the Frunze branch of the Alma-Ata Railways in 1992.

The length of Kyrgyzstan’s railways was 470 kilometers in 2006, and it is 426 kilometers now. The track network is fragmented, and the rolling stock including coaches, locomotives and freight wagons, is outdated. Rail transport accounts for only 3% of the cargo turnover in the country.

4,812 people are now working in the state-owned enterprise.

Rolling stock

Over the 27 years of independence, Kyrgyzstan has bought only six locomotives. The rest have been exploited for 40 years, despite the expired usage period, Kyrgyz Temir Jolu General Director Abdykerimov said.

More than 52.5% of freight cars and 51.6% of coaches are inoperative. From 2020, 94 coaches will be sent for scrap.

To restore the freight car fleet and fully meet the needs of business entities until 2022, it is necessary to purchase 200 freight cars annually for more than 571 million soms.

Last year, 15 coaches and four freight cars were repaired. The overhaul of wagons is being done in Uzbekistan, while the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu can carry out routine maintenance only.

With the money borrowed from the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund, the enterprise bought 150 freight wagons that were sent to stations in the south of the country.

The Kyrgyz Temir Jolu also plans to buy two shunting diesel locomotives.

Growth of freight and passenger traffic

In 2018, the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu transported 7.4 million tons of cargo, 4% more compared to 2017, Abdykerimov said.

The growth in cargo transportation was largely due to the country’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. From 2016 to 2018, the volume of goods transported by the railway increased by 23.4%.

The increase was achieved due to the growth in exports of goods including coal (60%), oil products (tenfold increase), construction materials (fourfold), and cement (threefold).

The company’s southern branch doubled the transportation in 2018 because Uzbekistan provided a 30% discount on the transportation of goods from Kyrgyzstan.

The passenger traffic has increased by 10 thousand people over the past year. About 300 thousand passengers travel by railways of Kyrgyzstan annually. In 2018, there were 324.4 thousand, 10.4% more than in 2017.

291.6 thousand passengers used the local train routes and 33.1 thousand were interstate passengers.

On the company’s sale to Russia

“We are not negotiating the sale of the enterprise,” Abdykerimov said answering journalists’ questions about selling the company to Russia.

At a press conference in Bishkek on February 7, Security Council Secretary Damir Sagynbayev did not comment on rumors that Kyrgyz Temir Jolu and other strategic facilities would be transferred to Russia.

To assess the proposal for the company’s reorganization, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive economic analysis of the relevant decisions, he added. Regarding the sale of Kyrgyzgaz (Kyrgyz Gas) to the Russian side, it is a good example. Local citizens saw that household gas comes to their houses without fail and at a low price, he said.

Rumors on the sale of the state-owned Kyrgyz Temir Jolu to Russia began to circulate after the recent meeting of the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu General Director with the head of the Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov in Moscow.

They discussed the development of a preliminary feasibility study of projects for Kyrgyzstan’s railway network development, the issue of purchase of Russian coaches and reducing the fare for passengers in the Russian-Kyrgyz train connections, and on the transfer to the ownership of Kyrgyz Railways of the locomotives of the Russian Railways which are now leased by the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu. There was no issue of selling the company on the agenda, the company spokesman Erkin Kaimov told Azattyk Radio.

Railways development concept

Kyrgyz Temir Jolu General Director Kanatbek Abdykerimov presented a draft Concept of Kyrgyzstan’s railway transport development for 2019-2025 to Prime Minister Mukhammedkaly Abylgaziyev.

Within the Concept, it is planned to build a new model of enterprise management including corporatization and public-private partnership mechanisms, Abdykerimov said.

Attraction of highly qualified personnel is among the important tasks of the Concept.

“It is unacceptable that such a strategic facility as the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu national company be in such a state as it is now. It is necessary to take decisive measures to radically change the situation in the railway transport and to make the company profitable, modernized and developing,” stressed PM Abylgaziyev.

He ordered to accelerate the implementation of measures for the development of railway transport related to the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu corporatization.

BISHKEK (TCA) — The Publisher’s note: Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Central Asia was the scene of intense geopolitical struggle and the Great Game between the British and Russian Empires, and later between the Soviet Union and the West, over Afghanistan and neighboring territories. Into the 21st century, Central Asia has become the area of a renewed geopolitical interest, dubbed the New Great Game, largely based on the region’s hydrocarbon and mineral wealth. On top of that, the region now is perhaps the most important node in the implementation of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative through which Beijing aims to get direct access to Western markets. Every week thousands of news appears in the world’s printed and online media and many of them may escape the attention of busy readers. At The Times of Central Asia, we strongly believe that more information can better contribute to peaceful development and better knowledge of this unique region. So we are presenting this Weekly Digest which compiles what other media have reported on Central Asia over the past week.

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan and its pungent oil: A curse and a blessing

During more than two decades since independence, Kazakhstan and its economy remain largely dependent on crude oil production and the changing world prices of the “black gold”

Feb 6 — “It was a hot July morning in 2000 when a helicopter carrying Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev landed on a drilling barge on the Caspian Sea. An anxious-looking Nazarbayev emerged from the aircraft flanked by his customary coterie of flunkeys and security detail. The occasion would mark what seemed at the time like the finest birthday present he would ever receive. Nazarbayev was to turn 60 two days later, on July 6.” READ MORE: https://www.timesca2stg.wpenginepowered.com/index.php/news/26-opinion-head/20807-kazakhstan-and-its-pungent-oil-a-curse-and-a-blessing

Kazakhstan Looks to Russian Rivers as Outlets to Global Markets

Several of the navigable tributaries to Russia’s Siberian Ob-Irtysh basin rise or pass through Kazakhstan

Feb 7 — “Last week (February 2), the influential Russian news and commentary portal IA Rex featured a story headlined, “Kazakhstan Is Seriously Discussing Becoming a Sea Power.” To most readers, the article must have seemed extremely improbable or even to be “fake news” given that Kazakhstan is a landlocked country, hundreds if not thousands of kilometers away from the nearest ocean.” READ MORE: https://jamestown.org/program/kazakhstan-looks-to-russian-rivers-as-outlets-to-global-markets/

Kazakhstan bites bullet and completes $3.4bn bailout of second largest lender

Kazakhstan’s banking sector was almost destroyed by the 2008 financial crisis and the later shock from the 2014 collapse of world oil prices

Feb 7 — “Kazakhstan has finalised a $3.4bn bailout of its second largest lender Tsesnabank. The move involved state-run brokerage First Heartland Securities taking over the lender for an undisclosed amount, the Kazakh central bank said on February 5.” READ MORE: http://www.intellinews.com/kazakhstan-bites-bullet-and-completes-3-4bn-bailout-of-second-largest-lender-156012/

Year of The Youth 2019 Stirs Up Kazakhs

The Year of the Youth in Kazakhstan aims at meeting young people’s needs, and recognizes their positive contributions as agents of change

Feb 8 — “”Today, there are about 300 million young people aged 18 to 30 years in the world who do not have a permanent job or are unemployed,” said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev officially launching in Astana, the capital city, ‘2019 the Year of the Youth’ that focuses on housing, employment and adequate education for young people.” READ MORE: https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/archive-search/central-asia/2477-year-of-the-youth-2019-stirs-up-kazakhs

KYRGYZSTAN

Insight: Kyrgyzstan adopts controversial opens-skies policy

Despite concerns voiced by local airlines, there are hopes that the open-skies regime is capable of stimulating the Kyrgyz air travel market

Feb 1 — “Kyrgyzstan, one of the smallest air travel markets in the CIS, is on the brink of some far-reaching changes as a result of the country adopting an open-skies regime effective from January 25. Last year, the country’s airports collectively handled some 3.5 million passengers (down by 2.4 per cent on 2017) and the business of local airlines, already experiencing financial difficulties, will be further affected by this liberalisation.” READ MORE: http://www.rusaviainsider.com/insight-kyrgyzstan-adopts-controversial-opens-skies-policy/

Kyrgyzstan: Corruption hinders mining development, investment attraction

Corruption and conflicts with local communities are the main obstacles facing foreign investors in Kyrgyzstan’s mining sector

Feb 3 — “Protection of natural resources and using them wisely is among the priorities in ensuring the national security of Kyrgyzstan. However, corruption in issuing licenses hampers the mining industry development and the attraction of investments in this sector, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov said on January 30 at a meeting of the Security Council to address problems in the subsoil use.” READ MORE: https://www.timesca2stg.wpenginepowered.com/index.php/news/26-opinion-head/20794-kyrgyzstan-corruption-hinders-mining-development-investment-attraction

DISCOVERING THE RUINS OF SUYAB, THE BIRTHPLACE OF LEGENDARY CHINESE POET LI BAI, IN KYRGYZSTAN

Enamoured by the tale of Gan Ying, an ancient Chinese explorer who set out to contact the Roman Empire, William Han decided to follow in his path. Han’s journey led him from Hong Kong to Italy, via Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Greece

Feb 6 — “In the summer of 2015, I left the United States. After growing up in Taiwan and New Zealand, I went to America to study before working in New York City. But in the end, I was unable to secure my permanent residency through a Green Card. As the prospect of my exile drew nearer, I correspondingly grew fascinated with a story I heard even as a child: in AD97, during the Eastern Han dynasty, China sent an explorer and envoy westward along the Silk Road to locate and to make contact with the Roman Empire. His name was Gan Ying.” READ MORE: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2185208/discovering-ruins-suyab-birthplace-legendary-chinese-poet-li-bai

Ulanbek Egizbaev’s Search for the Truth in Kyrgyzstan

The sudden tragic death of an investigative journalist raises questions about the fate of the press in Kyrgyzstan

Feb 6 — “A review of Ulanbek Egizbaev: In Search for the Truth (2018). In summer 2018, the sudden death of a prominent journalist in Kyrgyzstan caused a rare display of public grief. Both in the country and among Kyrgyzstanis working abroad, public tributes were paid to the life and work of Ulanbek Egizbaev, 28, one of the country’s leading investigative journalists. Egizbaev drowned on 22 July while vacationing with his family at a resort on Lake Issyk-Kul, a top tourist destination in the country’s east.” READ MORE: https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/altynai-mambetova/ulanbek-egizbaevs-search-for-the-truth-in-kyrgyzstan

TAJIKISTAN

Try If You Want To, But Tajikistan Says No Big Birthday Parties

In 2007, Tajikistan introduced a law in an effort to spare the poor country’s citizens the expense of lavish weddings, funerals, and other gatherings, such as baby boys’ circumcision parties

Feb 4 — “It might be your birthday, but as a local Tajik celebrity was just reminded, Tajikistan can spoil the party. After video emerged of Firuza Hafizova celebrating her big day with song and dance, the popular Dushanbe-based singer found herself in court and short $500 for violating the country’s law regulating private functions, Tajikistan state television reported on February 2.” READ MORE: https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-hafizova-fined-birthday-parties/29751151.html

Which sectors of Tajikistan’s economy most promising for investments?

More than 70 investment incentives are provided for the creation of a favorable investment environment and attracting investments in Tajikistan

Feb 5 — “Tajikistan’s government has singled out a number of prospect sectors of the country’s economy for attracting investments, namely, hydropower industry; agriculture and processing of agricultural products; mining and chemical industry; light industry; transport; financial sector; and tourism, Trend reports referring to Tajinvest state unitary enterprise.” READ MORE: https://www.azernews.az/region/145096.html

Tajikistan Mulls Reopening, Building New Mosques

The government strictly controls religious institutions in Tajikistan, but authorities have reopened dozens of mosques across the country in recent months

Feb 6 — “Tajikistan has set up a special commission to assess whether the country needs to build new mosques and reopen some of the places of worship that had been closed down by authorities in recent years, a government official says.” READ MORE: https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-mulls-reopening-building-new-mosques/29755262.html

TURKMENISTAN

Are Turkmenistan’s economic fortunes changing?

There is an important factor constraining the volume of natural gas that Turkmenistan can sell to China. The Central Asia-China gas pipeline is set to hit capacity this year, just as China increases gas imports from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Feb 4 — “Turkmenistan lives by natural gas and dies by natural gas. The country’s failure to diversify away from what is by very far its top export commodity has left Ashgabat prone to dwindling revenue. The pain began in 2014, in the wake of the slide in global oil prices, which broadly speaking serve as a benchmark for gas rates. This situation was later compounded by the loss of two important customers.” READ MORE: https://eurasianet.org/are-turkmenistans-economic-fortunes-changing

Turkmenistan: On a wing and a prayer

In its ‘Akhal-Teke: A Turkmenistan Bulletin’, Eurasianet reviews the main news and events in the Central Asian country for the previous week

Feb 5 — “The week began badly for Turkmenistan with European aviation authorities announcing that the country’s national air carrier would no longer be permitted to fly in the EU. Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed on February 4 that Turkmenistan Airlines flights to Birmingham and London have been cancelled. The state-owned airliner has an Ashgabat-Frankfurt route that will also be affected. The Ashgabat-Paris link has not been in service since December over what RFE/RL’s Turkmen service, Azatlyk, has reported are unpaid debts to Charles de Gaulle Airport.” READ MORE: https://eurasianet.org/turkmenistan-on-a-wing-and-a-prayer

Turkmenistan nationals barred from exiting the country for cooperating with foreign “ideological sabotage centres”

Turkmenistan seems to have become even more reclusive as the economic situation worsens in the country

Feb 6 — “With increasing frequency the editorial board of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” is receiving reports from our readers whose relative or friends have been barred from exiting the country. We have managed to confirm two cases from several independent sources.” READ MORE: https://en.hronikatm.com/2019/02/turkmenistan-nationals-barred-from-exiting-the-country-for-cooperating-with-foreign-ideological-sabotage-centres/

UZBEKISTAN

Junk Fever Returns to Silk Road as Uzbekistan Plans Roadshow

Uzbekistan is opening up to foreign investment and trying to borrow on the international financial market

Feb 4 — “In a flashback to the giddy days of yield hunting in 2017, the ex-Soviet republic of Uzbekistan has hired banks for a debut Eurobond sale. The landlocked exporter of natural gas, gold and cotton has mandatedJPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Gazprombank JSC to test investor appetite this week in the U.S. and the U.K. for a possible benchmark sale of dollar-denominated debt, according to a person familiar with the matter, who was not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified.” READ MORE: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-04/junk-fever-returns-to-the-silk-road-as-uzbekistan-plans-roadshow

Uzbekistan lifts ban on “confidential” state data on minerals

Uzbekistan will now publish information on the country’s mineral reserves, mining and sales volumes, and the distribution of funds derived from the sales

Feb 4 — “Uzbekistan has annulled the confidentiality of information concerning the country’s mineral reserves, their annual production and sales, as well as foreign and internal debts, Uzbek justice ministry said Monday. A government decree that lifts restrictions on the publication of the information on the dynamics of gold, silver and other non-ferrous and rare earth metals mining has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, according to the country’s justice ministry.” READ MORE: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-02/04/c_137799081.htm

Uzbekistan’s Jamie Oliver dreams of going global

The ambitious 34-year-old plans to set up a house of Uzbek culinary arts to promote the popularity of Uzbek cuisine overseas

Feb 7 — “Bakhriddin Chustiy feels uneasy about being likened to Jamie Oliver. It is not that he doesn’t admire the world-famous British chef. It is just too early, he told Eurasianet. “One on hand this makes me happy, but on the other, we have a long way to go before reaching the level of Jamie Oliver,” Chustiy said, sitting in a corner sofa at his newly opened restaurant in Uzbekistan’s capital.” READ MORE: https://eurasianet.org/uzbekistans-jamie-oliver-dreams-of-going-global

Exclusive: Uzbek teachers, nurses ‘forced’ to clean streets and harvest wheat

Ending forced labor and protecting workers in Uzbekistan will require reforms such as independent unions, complaint mechanisms and access to remedies for victims, the rights groups and ILO say

Feb 7 — “Nurses and teachers in Uzbekistan are being forced by officials to clean streets, plant trees and harvest wheat or face the sack, fines or pay cuts, despite a government drive to end state-imposed work, labor rights groups said on Thursday. Under international pressure, including boycotts by fashion giants, the Central Asian country has pointed to its efforts to end the use of forced labor by adults and children in its cotton industry – where it is one of the world’s top exporters.” READ MORE: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uzbekistan-workers-slavery-exclusive/exclusive-uzbek-teachers-nurses-forced-to-clean-streets-and-harvest-wheat-idUSKCN1PW0C1

AFGHANISTAN

End the War in Afghanistan

There are now 22,000 soldiers from 39 countries in Afghanistan. Roughly 14,000 of them are American. Their mission now includes less combat and more training, but the result remains the same: a “stalemate”

Feb 3 — “On Sept. 14, 2001, Congress wrote what would prove to be one of the largest blank checks in the country’s history. The Authorization for Use of Military Force against terrorists gave President George W. Bush authority to attack the Taliban, the Sunni fundamentalist force then dominating Afghanistan that refused to turn over the mastermind of the attacks perpetrated three days earlier, Osama bin Laden.” READ MORE: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/opinion/afghanistan-war.html

Why America Lost in Afghanistan

Successive US administrations have failed to heed the lessons of a forgotten counterinsurgency success story from Vietnam

Feb 5 — “The Trump administration is now using Henry Kissinger’s “decent interval” process of abandonment to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The strategy is simple: negotiate a peace agreement exposing an ally to certain defeat in the long run, impose it, withdraw U.S. troops, cut aid, and finally refuse to re-engage when those the United States once fought move to take over the country.” READ MORE: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/05/why-america-lost-in-afghanistan-counterinsurgency-cords-vietnam/

Afghan Taliban Open To Women’s Rights — But Only On Its Terms

Many Afghan women fear that their rights enshrined under the constitution will be given away as part of a peace settlement with the Taliban

Feb 6 — “With increased talk of peace in Afghanistan, the Taliban is projecting itself as a more moderate force, pledging to grant women their rights and allow them to work and go to school. The Taliban said in a February 5 statement that it was committed to guaranteeing women their rights — under Islam — and “in a way that neither their legitimate rights are violated nor their human dignity and Afghan values are threatened.” READ MORE: https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-afghanistan-open-women-s-rights-only-terms/29755102.html

Explainer: Why There Are Two Competing Tracks For Afghan Peace

Analysts say Moscow is trying to promote itself as a power broker to challenge the U.S.-backed peace process in Afghanistan

Feb 7 — “As the prospect of a negotiated end to the war in Afghanistan is closer than it has ever been, the peace process with the Taliban could be derailed by competing agendas. Longtime rivals Russia and the United States have backed separate negotiations with different stakeholders, muddling the complex process.” READ MORE: https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer-afghan-peace-process-two-tracks/29757472.html

WORLD

Cement Plants Bloom in Central Asia Along China’s New Silk Road, Prompting Worries

China says its Belt and Road initiative is a “win-win” opportunity that helps other countries upgrade their transport and infrastructure links while boosting its own trade

Feb 7 — “On a windswept steppe in southwestern Kazakhstan, the new Chinese-backed cement plant on the outskirts of the village of Shieli stands as a gleaming symbol to some of the Central Asian country’s industrialization. “We need oil-well cement for the oil and uranium industries,” said Yevgeniy Kim, deputy governor of the Kyzylorda region where the plant is located.” READ MORE: https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/asia-and-australia/cement-plants-bloom-in-central-asia-along-china-s-new-silk-road-prompting-worries-1.6914599

The Daunting Prospects of a Growing Sino-Russian Entente

A strengthened Moscow-Beijing axis poses serious security challenges to the West in general and to the United States in particular

Feb 8 — “When U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, presented the 2019 National Intelligence Strategy on January 28, he highlighted the threat to U.S. national security posed by an increasing Moscow-Beijing alignment.Aside from conventional challenges, the report emphasizes the need for the intelligence community (IC) to counter threats stemming from technological advances. The part of his testimony that perhaps garnered the most attention, however, was the assessment that ‘China and Russia are more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s.’” READ MORE: https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/the-daunting-prospects-of-a-growing-sino-russian-entente

ASTANA (TCA) — Foreign Minister Beibut Atamkulov this week held a briefing for the heads of diplomatic missions and representatives of international organizations accredited in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said.

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