News Digest
ACTING TURKMEN PRESIDENT PROMISES INTERNET ACCESS FOR ALL
By empty (1/25/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Acting Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov pledged on January 25 to provide every family in Turkmenistan with a \"mobile phone and access to the Internet.\" Berdymukhammedov, a candidate in the presidential election set for February 11, added that \"the installation of telephones in every part of Turkmenistan will be completed by 2015\" and said the country will have its first electric train in the coming year, in line with a plan by late Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. Berdymukhammedov, who worked as a dentist before becoming a deputy prime minister and health minister, was appointed interim president on December 21 and has emerged as the front-runner in the race to succeed Niyazov.VISITING IRANIAN MINISTER SAID TO PLEDGE COOPERATION WITH TAJIKISTAN.
By empty (1/25/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Speaking to reporters in Dushanbe, Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov reported on January 25 that his meeting with visiting Iranian Education Minister Mahmud Farshidi resulted in an agreement on Iranian assistance and cooperation in the fields of science, education, and culture, Asia-Plus reported. Farshidi reportedly added that Iran will provide particular assistance in expanding cooperation in the education and technology sectors, and said that Tehran wants to increase the number of exchange students between Iran and Tajikistan. Farshidi also announced that Iran has donated nearly 400,000 textbooks for use in Tajik secondary schools.KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT VOTES TO REJECT KULOV\'S REAPPOINTMENT
By empty (1/25/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Kyrgyz Parliament voted 25-38 in a secret ballot on Thursday to reject President Kurmanbek Bakiyev\'s proposal to reappoint Felix Kulov as the country\'s prime minister. Kulov needed to win the votes of 38 of parliament\'s 75 members to keep his post. The Kulov-led government resigned on December 19, 2006.AZERI, ARMENIAN MINISTERS TO HOLD KARABAKH TALKS IN JANUARY
By empty (1/9/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The first 2007 meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be held at the end of January, Head of the Azeri Foreign Ministry\'s information department Tair Tagizade told Interfax on Tuesday. Consultations are underway on the place and exact date of the talks, he said. Depending on the outcome of the talks, the presidents of the two countries may hold another meeting on the Karabakh settlement later this year, he said.Visit also
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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.