The war in Afghanistan has added considerably to the strategic significance of Central Asia due to its proximity to the conflict. Moreover, the continuation of the war increasingly involves the vital interests of many other actors other than the U.S. and NATO forces currently there. This monograph, taken from SSI's conference ("Contemporary Issues in International Security") with European and Russian scholars in 2010, provides a comprehensive analysis of the means and objectives of Russia's involvement in Central Asia. It provides Russian perspectives concerning the other actors in Central Asia and how Moscow views the policy significance of those efforts, and a French analysis of the strategic situation evolving there. For obvious reasons: the war in Afghanistan, proximity to major global actors, large energy holdings, and for less obvious reasons, i.e., that possibility that domestic instability in one or more of these states could spread to other Muslim states as we now see in the Arab revolutions of 2011, Central Asia is an increasingly important and interesting region.

"April 2011."

Russia-Central Asia : advances and shortcomings of the military relationship / Sébastien Peyrouse -- Introduction: the evolving role and place of Russia in the Asian security system -- The multilateral framework and its limits -- Bilateralism : a much more effective framework -- Joint exercises and provisions of military equipment -- Personnel training -- Russian military facilities in Central Asia -- The relaunch of the Central Asia military-industrial complex -- Conclusion -- Contemporary issues in international security : Central Asia / Dmitri Trenin. Introduction -- Central Asia comes into its own -- Outsiders' policies toward Central Asia in the 1990s -- Central Asia after September 11, 2001 -- Kazakhstan -- Uzbekistan -- Kyrgyzstan -- Tajikistan -- Turkmenistan -- Russia's views of U.S. foreign policy under the Obama administration -- Russia's perceived interests in Afghanistan -- Russia's policies in Afghanistan in support of its interests --- Russia's interests in Afghanistan, vis-à-vis those of other powers -- Can these interests be reconciled? -- The impact of Russia's pursuit of interests for (1) achieving stability in Afghanistan, and (2) the success of coalition goals and operations in Afghanistan -- An outlook for the short-and-medium-term future -- Conclusion.