Field Reports
RUSSIAN SECURITY FORCES KILL HEAD OF THE DAGESTANI INSURGENCY
By Olof Staaf (4/27/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Russian Security Forces have reported that Israpil Validzhanov, who is also known as Emir Khasan, was killed on the night of April 18. Validzhanov was appointed head of Dagestan’s Shariat Jamaat after his predecessor Magomedali Vagabov was killed in August 2010.
According to the head of the republic’s Department of Investigation, Validzhanov and three other men were stopped by officers from the Federal Security Service and the Dagestani Interior Ministry at a checkpoint outside the village of Tashkapur in central Dagestan.
AZERBAIJAN PROTESTS PLANNED AIRPORT IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
By Mina Muradova (4/27/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The three Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia held a meeting in Moscow on April 22 to discuss several issues related to the resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. An issue of special concern is the increased tension along the frontline due to intensifying cease-fire violations over recent months.
Observers said that tensions peaked when Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced his intention to be the first passenger on the first flight from Yerevan to a reopened airport in Nagorno-Karabakh.
KAZAKHSTAN AND INDIA STRENGTHEN BILATERAL TIES
By Georgiy Voloshin (4/27/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On April 15-16, 2011, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid his first official visit to Kazakhstan, after attending a meeting of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) on the Chinese island of Hainan. A series of bilateral agreements signed in the wake of his meeting with President Nazarbayev testify to India’s firm commitment to strengthening and expanding its presence in the most developed country of Central Asia. Previously, a lack of adequate air communication, the remoteness of both capitals and scarcity of financial inflows from India impeded relevant cooperation to the advantage of other regional players, primarily Russia and China.
NAZARBAYEV REELECTED PRESIDENT IN LANDSLIDE VICTORY
By Georgiy Voloshin (4/13/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On April 5, 2011, the Central Election Committee of Kazakhstan made public the official results of the latest presidential elections, in which the incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev won a landslide victory. Nazarbayev obtained 95.
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Joint Center Publications
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.