DEALING WITH WARLORDS
By R. Grant Smith (1/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The term "warlord" recalls China in the 1920's and 1930's. More recent examples come from Africa, from the Balkans and, in the immediate region of Afghanistan, from Tajikistan. A less pejorative term might be "regional strongman," implicitly in a situation where central power is weak.
HAS IRAN EMBARKED ON A STRATEGIC TURN?
By Stephen Blank (2/27/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Iran ostensibly supports the war against terrorism. Yet President Bush calls it a member of the axis of evil, i.e.
PUTIN AIMS TO LOCK UP CASPIAN GAS WITH OR WITHOUT NIYAZOV
By Michael Denison (2/27/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Presidents Niyazov of Turkmenistan and Aliyev of Azerbaijan paid separate visits to Moscow in the last week of January. High on their respective agendas were designs to develop the Caspian region’s energy sector and to unblock the impasse over who owns what part of the Caspian Sea itself. After a meeting with Niyazov, President Putin called for the establishment of a “Eurasian Gas Alliance” to co-ordinate more effectively the volume, transport and consumption of the region’s natural gas output.
RUSSIAN-IRANIAN RELATIONS AND AMERICAN MILITARY PRESENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Hooman Peimani (2/27/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: For various reasons, Iranian-Russian relations have been growing over the last decade. Besides economic interests, the common interest of the Iranians and the Russians in security and stability in Central Asia and the Caucasus and their concern about the destabilizing effects of instability in Afghanistan on the two regions and on their own countries have been major factors in cementing their relations. Being their former historical rulers, Iran and Russia share long borders with the two regions, making them concerned about stability in these volatile areas.
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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.