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OSH, Kyrgyzstan (TCA) — In Afghanistan, the Taliban has regained a foothold and launched the spring offensive codenamed “operation Omari,” after the name of its late leader Mullah Muhammad Omar. This will certainly nullify the peace efforts of the quadrilateral coordination group of China, the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan for reaching a direct dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban. The spring offensive will certainly escalate violence and further destabilize the country. Such development on the ground, with the Afghan government’s role in state management reduced by ever intensive fighting, may turn foreign intervention from a last option into the only option. With Afghanistan falling again into chaos, terrorism may spread to neighboring countries of Central Asia and probably China’s western Xinjiang region. Continue reading
OSH, Kyrgyzstan (TCA) — Right across the Tajik border and under the very noses of Russian and Indian military based near the frontier, it is all-out war again in the northeast of Afghanistan and there is a pretty good chance that Afghan government troops will bite the dust in the absence of American, or eventually Russian, Indian and/or Chinese air support. Only days after the Taliban announced its “spring offensive” throughout Afghanistan, the much-feared extremists already keep the initiative both in the southwest and the northeast. Only resumed infighting between extremist forces could bring some relief for a disenchanted population in the region. Continue reading
KABUL (TCA) — The United States on March 7 appealed to the Taliban to join peace talks to prevent another upsurge in fighting in Afghanistan this spring, RFE/RL reported on March 8. Continue reading
KABUL (TCA) — Direct talks between the Afghan government and authorized representatives of the Taliban may take place in early March, TOLOnews reported. Continue reading
OSH, Kyrgyzstan (TCA) — A growing number of commentators and other observers, both in the west and in the former USSR, are casting doubt on the distinction between “radicals” and “moderates” among “Muslim activists” both in Syria and the world outside it. If there is one place in the world that shows how justified such suspicions are to some extent, it must be Central Asia. Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — In December 1992, seven months after the start of the sectarian Tajik Civil War, the Russian 201st Motor Rifle Division recaptured the Tajik capital of Dushanbe which had been held by the United Tajik Opposition, a coalition of Islamists, nationalists and democrats. The 201st Division was a unit of the Russian Army, stationed in Tajikistan after the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The 201st were the border guards on the periphery of the Soviet Union with the 810 mile long border with Afghanistan to the south and the turbulent Chinese province of Xinjiang to the East. Continue reading
