Contact Person: Dr. Diana Digol, Dipl.-Pol.

This project addresses the seriously under-researched question of which policies the five Central Asian (CA) states have pursued on Afghanistan. The CA states are, of course, extremely concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and the impact developments there may have on their own countries. However, there has been little if any research into the question of whether the CA states consciously aim at stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan through their own initiatives in order to prevent the conflict there from spilling over into their own countries. This kind of research is essential for formulating a strategy for the stabilization of Afghanistan
after the withdrawal of coalition forces.

Deeper knowledge of the Afghanistan policies of the CA states is also vital for a better understanding of the dynamics of the conflict potentials in Afghanistan and Central Asia, whose interlinkage and joint escalation would lead to a major violent conflict, greater even than the 1990s Balkans wars in terms of both area and population. Such a development would have negative consequences for a number of countries, the US, the states of Western Europe, Russia and China among them.

This pilot phase of this project (5 months) has received financial support from the Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung. | ...more