Regional Politics in Central Asia

Regional Politics in Central Asia: the Changing Roles of Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and China

September 11, 2001 affected no region in the world as much as it affected Central Asia.1
Afghanistan, of course, was the state most affected, as its erstwhile isolated and estranged Taliban government was overthrown and the country opened up to the world. Afghanistan received great amounts of political and economic aid as well as American military presence, and a token international security force in Kabul. Twenty-three years of almost constant war had now come to an end, giving way to the gruesome reconstruction of this war-ravaged country. The five post-Soviet states of Central Asia, on the other hand, saw a greatly changed regional political scene emerge out of
Operation Enduring Freedom. For one, the main threat to their security – terrorism originating from Afghanistan, especially the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan – had been done away with. Moreover, aid provided by western donors to Central Asia greatly increased, and American and allied military presence spelt closer relations with the United States for Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and especially Uzbekistan, which was singled out as a strategic ally of the United States. The biggest change, on a broader level, was that Central Asia no longer remained an isolated region. Indeed, before September 11, 2001, western interest in the region had gradually waned. But America’s advent on the scene
restored a certain freedom of movement to Central Asian states that were increasingly becoming constrained in an environment dominated by Russian and Chinese influence.

 The ever evolving and shifting distribution of power and influence among the states
surrounding Central Asia was fundamentally altered by the serious commitment of the
1 Central Asia is here defined as including the five post-Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as Afghanistan. United States to a military and security engagement in the region, even though the length of this commitment was not announced.2 American involvement hence redrew the geopolitical map of Central Asia and beyond, before redrawing the political map of the Middle East a year and a half later through the invasion of Iraq. This involvement greatly increased America’s leverage in the region, with profound impact on the respective roles not only of Russia, but also of the other major powers involved in the region: Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and China. Now, two years after September 11, some repositioning of these major actors can be discerned. How have their interests been affected by American presence in the region? How have they responded to this development?