Central Asia: construction of the new regional security complex?

Abstract

Introduction In the contemporary Political Science, the term “Central Asian region” is used not only to denote the territorial community of the five independent republics that emerged after the collapse of the USSR, but also the historical, economic, political and cultural past of these states. Five countries have formed along the borders of the former union republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They occupy the centre of Eurasia and border on the great world civilizational centres. The notion of the “Central Asian region” is beginning to include Afghanistan, as it has a geographic community with the countries of the region, the historical and cultural past and also influences the strategic balance of the entire region. Traditionally, the events in Afghanistan and the impact of the intra-Afghan conflict on the regional security of Central Asia (CA) are explored using the concepts of the balance of forces inherent in realist and neo-realist International Relations (IR) theories, as well as military power, the state of the armed forces, rational choice. However, in my opinion, this narrows the subject of the study, reducing it to certain aspects of the Afghan conflict and its impact on the Central Asian countries. Such reductionist approach cannot provide a full picture of what is happening without considering the root causes of the high concern of the countries of the region with the processes in Afghanistan. Drawing upon the regional secur