Central Asian Security Trends

President Barack Obama has outlined a comprehensive strategy for the war in Afghanistan, which is now the central front of our campaign against Islamic terrorism. That strategy strongly connects our prosecution of that war to our policy in Pakistan and internal developments there as a necessary condition of victory. But it has also provided for a new logistics road through Central Asia. In this monograph, Dr. Blank argues that a winning strategy in Afghanistan depends, as well, upon the systematic leveraging of the opportunity provided by that road and a new coordinated nonmilitary approach to Central Asia. That approach would rely heavily on improved coordination at home and the more effective leveraging of our superior economic power in Central Asia to help stabilize that region so that it provides a secure rear to Afghanistan. In this fashion, we would help Central Asia meet the challenges of extremism, of economic decline due to the global economic crisis, and thus of political stability in states that are likely to be challenged by the confluence of those trends. This monograph therefore contributes directly to the debate on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Central Asia and duly represents a part of the Strategic Studies Institute's continuing efforts to participate in and help shape that debate over U.S. strategy and policy. The topic could not be more timely, and we hope that it will influence those ongoing debates about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Strategic Studies Institute.