KYRGYZSTAN IN 2015: ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACKWARD
By J. Edward Conway (3/7/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
As Kyrgyzstan approaches the two-year mark of the April 2010 revolution, its future socio-economic prospects have gone from bad to worse. Anti-foreign investment rhetoric since the parliamentary and presidential elections has encouraged an unprecedented level of instability in the business environment for multinational companies. Foreign development assistance will decline significantly following the 2014 NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan and the 2015 Millennium Development Goals target date, especially given the financial austerity measures demanded by the domestic politics of leading donor countries.
PAKISTAN’S ENERGY FUTURE: INTERNATIONAL PRESSURES AND REGIONAL COMPLUSIONS
By Rizwan Zeb (3/7/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Pakistan’s energy resources are increasingly receding and consumption rising. The only solution to this problem is to import gas. The Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline provides the most viable option but international compulsions, especially pressure from Washington and sanctions on Iran, makes it problematic.
TURKMEN LEADER VISITS ISLAMABAD AND BEIJING TO BOOST DIVERSIFICATION OF ENERGY EXPORTS
By Jan Šír (11/30/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Turkmenistan is once again at the focus of Central Asian energy geopolitics. While the country’s capital Ashgabat hosted its annual international forum Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan – 2011, President Berdimuhammedov embarked on a quick succession of visits to Pakistan and China. In mid-November, he visited Islamabad to keep Turkmenistan in the game for entering the fast-growing energy markets of Pakistan and India.
THE SOUTHERN GAS CORRIDOR GETS A KICK-START
By Robert M. Cutler (11/30/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Azerbaijan and Turkey have announced plans to construct a pipeline from the South Caucasus across Turkey to carry natural gas from Azerbaijan’s offshore Shah Deniz Two deposit to Southeastern Europe. At first glance, this would seem to leave Nabucco and two other candidate pipeline projects that have already submitted bids, out in the cold. However, what is involved is the creation of a format for bargaining where Azerbaijan can assert its strategic interests more convincingly against the pipeline consortia, which by their project-oriented nature have not been inclined to take a broader view.
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Analysis Niklas Swanström and Leah Oppenheimer, "Invisible Ink: Looking for the Lost Trade between China, Russia, and Central Asia", ISDP Policy Brief, 13 March 2013. 
New Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr with Adib Farhadi, Finish the Job: Jump-Start the Afghan Economy, December 2012.
Conference Report Cheryl Benard, Eli Sugarman, and Holly Rehm, Cultural Heritage vs. Mining on the New Silk Road? Finding Technical Solutions for Mes Aynak and Beyond (in cooperation with the Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage) December 2012.
Article Svante E. Cornell, "The 'Afghanization of the North Caucasus: Causes and Implications of a Changing Conflict", in Stephen Blank, ed., Russia's Homegrown Insurgency: Jihad in the North Caucasus, Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, 2012.