Publication

This report focuses on US policy priorities in Central Asia. The author argues that in the next ten years, leadership succession will emerge as the most important political issue in the region. It is not clear at this point if the successor generation will be up to the difficult tasks of maintaining internal stability and sustaining complex diplomatic efforts abroad. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the next generation of leaders will prove capable of making up for the shortcomings of the incumbents. The report stresses that leadership succession will be a delicate, complicated process, which the United States can best facilitate by a clear articulation of its interests, intentions, and commitments.