Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 29
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Further instability or conflict in Afghanistan may have an impact on the Central Asian republics, European expert Nicolas de Pedro believes.
"The Central Asian republics are not going to play a meaningful role in the resolution of the Afghan problem," de Pedro, a researcher at CIDOB in Spain, told Trend via e-mail on Friday.
According to the expert, Afghanistan's problems are very much related to the upcoming presidential elections.
Moreover the likely dramatic drop in international funds for Afghanistan is going to have a serious impact on the Afghan economy, he said.
"I don't think the Central Asian countries nor other regional stakeholders are ready or wiling to fulfil this gap," he said.
Meanwhile, de Perdo does not see the threats from Afghanistan as an imminent and existential for Central Asian countries.
"The main issues they must face are endogenous and mostly related to the own nature of their regimes resulting in institutional weakness, poor governance and lack of prospects for their young population," he said.
...