The battle
Central Asia’s strategic value grows
amid escalating geopolitical conflicts,
explains
Ng W
eng Hoong
.
O
nce courted for their fast-growing markets and huge energy
resources, Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC) have become
a major prize in a new complex mix of geopolitical struggles.
Ironically, the region’s deteriorating economic and security
conditions have enhanced rather than diminished its appeal for those
sucked into an increasingly confusing battleground that includes a
revived Cold War, the US-led War on Terror and the Islamic State’s (ISIS)
campaign for a global caliphate.
The US, China, Russia, India and Japan are stepping up diplomatic,
military and economic efforts to court the region’s eight troubled
countries that include Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and
Uzbekistan that have oil and gas reserves, and Armenia, Georgia,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that do not. ISIS is recruiting Central Asians to
for CentralAsia
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