A Deeper Look (Special Edition) Issue #12 - Mar 28 2021

Special Edition - News in Central Asia, and the Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds you well!

News coverage for the last year has been dominated by COVID-19, and this has left little time for other news that also deserves our attention. The pandemic has dominated our thoughts and the thoughts of news and opinion makers, but life carries on, and we must take a moment to look through the present crisis to see what is happening in other parts of the world. As our bubbles of interaction have grown smaller, so to have our bubbles of attention. Our focus has inevitably narrowed to only what is of concern to us in the present moment. As, anthropologist, sociologist, and physician Dider Fassin has explained:

The word “attention” is the right word. During the past months, the media, and more generally society, have been incapable of being interested in anything other than our crisis. We have been entirely self-absorbed about what was happening to us, and even when we were looking elsewhere, it was to draw comparison with us. The news has become essentially presentist and ethnocentric. Only the current moment was important. Only what happened in our life was significant.

To address this issue, this week we will take a deeper look at news in Central Asia, in particular the countries of:

• Afghanistan

• Tajikistan

• Kyrgyzstan

This will provide an overview of news covered by regional and local headlines - news that is not always represented in international media.

I am considering putting together a monthly review of global news headlines broken down by region (Europe, North America, East and West Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East) that will be issued once a month, if this is something that would interest you please do let me know.

Central Asia

Afghanistan

Afghan Population Growing Rapidly, 57% Increase in Two Decades [Tolo News] 27 March 2021

Afghanistan’s population has grown by 57% in the last two decades, according to statistics by the country’s National Statistic and Information Authority (NISA), and there was a 13.8 million increase in the last 20 years. Statistics reported by international organizations reveal that if Afghanistan’s population growth rates increase with the same percentage, in 2050, the country will have a population of 64 million. Recent reports suggest that almost 40% of Afghans are facing unemployment a trend which remains on the rise.

U.S. spy agencies warn Biden of possible Taliban takeover of Afghanistan [Reuters, via the New York Times] 26 March 2021

U.S. intelligence agencies have told the Biden administration that the Taliban could overrun most of Afghanistan within two to three years if U.S. troops leave before a power-sharing deal is reached between the warring sides. Such a takeover potentially would allow al Qaeda to rebuild in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported, quoting anonymous U.S. officials. President Joe Biden is deciding whether to meet a May 1 deadline for the withdrawal of the last 3,500 American troops that was set in a February 2020 accord struck with the Taliban under his predecessor, Donald Trump.

Afghanistan to plunge into civil war if peace talks fail [Khaama Press] 27 March 2021

Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser, Hamdullah Mohib warned that if the peace process fails before the US and NATO troops pull out of Afghanistan, the country would face a violent civil war. In a press conference on Saturday, Hamdullah said that Afghanistan needs peace and a complete ceasefire instead of a reduction in violence. He added that Republic’s peace negotiators have returned to Qatar today to continue peace dialogues with the Taliban. The statement comes as Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghan reconciliation travels to Turkey to encourage parties to accelerate peace negotiations in a bid to end the conflict.

Tajikistan

Moscow Says Return Of Tajik Students To Russian Universities On Hold For Now [Radio-Free Europe] 25 March 2021

Officials at Russia's Education Ministry say the return of Tajik students to universities in Russia remains on hold due to coronavirus restrictions despite others being allowed to come back. On March 20, the Russian Education Minister issued a list of 25 countries whose citizens were allowed to return to Russia to continue their studies at universities. Tajikistan was not included to the list, even though Tajik officials have said that there have been no coronavirus cases registered in the country since January 1. There are about 26,000 Tajiks studying at Russian universities, many of whom have been stuck at home and forced to study online since borders were closed due to the pandemic last year.

Tajikistan’s Catch-22: Foreign Investment and Sovereignty Risks [The Diplomat] 24 March 2021

The article argues that the lens of debt-trap diplomacy does not particularly help in understanding China’s investments in Tajikistan: “the Tajik debt trap cannot only be ascribed to the predatory nature of Chinese interests, as Chinese-Tajik relations have grown closer during the last decades while European and U.S. investments have all but vanished. In a post-COVID environment, Tajikistan and the neighbouring Central Asian states are likely to become more dependent on China and its investments” The article explains that Tajikistan’s importance to China rests on three fundamental pillars 1) Tajikistan is set to become a central passageway for China’s import of natural resources, most notably gas imports from Turkmenistan; 2) Tajikistan, is a vital geo-strategic partner for China in combating the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism; and 3) the region has been touted by some Chinese officials as a future transit hub for the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) and in order to ensure the security of this new hub, the Chinese government has launched an extensive counterterrorism campaign resulting in the severe repression of Xinjiang’s Muslim populations, particularly the Uyghurs.

Kyrgyzstan

Exclusive: Kyrgyz President Defends Controversial Constitutional Changes [Radio Free Europe] 15 March 2021

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has praised constitutional changes he initiated saying they are needed to create a strong central branch of government to "establish order" in the Central Asian country, despite concerns by some groups they will create an authoritarian ruler if accepted in a referendum next month. The proposed amendments include: 1) the strengthening of presidential powers and the scrapping of a current law allowing a president only one term in favor of opening the post up for reelection to a second term; 2) the creation of a so-called People's Kurultai (Assembly), described as "a consultative and coordinating organ" that would be controlled by the president; 3) the creation of a Constitutional Council will also be created, while the number of lawmakers will be cut to 90 from 120. Last week, Kyrgyz lawmakers approved the bill on constitutional amendments and set April 11 as the date to hold the referendum to approve the new constitution.

One Year Later in the Kyrgyz Republic’s Battle Against COVID-19 [The World Bank] - 17 March 2020

March 17, 2021 marks one year since the first cases of COVID-19 were registered in the Kyrgyz Republic. The pandemic has hit the country hard and exposed challenges in several areas - from public health and education to migration policy. For a small, land-locked economy that is reliant on services, remittances, and natural resources, the pandemic has had a highly negative effect that could reverse much of the development progress achieved in recent years. The COVID-19 crisis has had adverse effects on labor income, the biggest factor in poverty reduction. Combined with the fall in the purchasing power of a substantial share of the population due to inflation, this leaves many people highly exposed to the economic consequences of the pandemic. The poverty rate in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2020 is estimated to have increased by 11 percentage points, from 20.1% in 2019 (national estimate), pushing an additional 700,000 people into poverty – a massive number for a population of 6.6 million.

Read of the Week:

This week’s read is The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales by Dr. Oliver Sacks.

The book presents a series of case studies of patients with neurological disorders. In his introduction Sacks sets out the reasoning for why he chose the case study as the medium of analysis, reasoning which also explains his attraction to the study of disease and the human condition:

Studies, yes; why stories, or cases? Hippocrates introduced the historical conception of disease, the idea that diseases have a course from their first intimations to their climax or crisis, and thence to their happy or fatal resolution. Hippocrates thus introduced the case history, a description, or depiction, of the natural history of disease - precisely expressed by the old word ‘pathology.’ Such histories are a form of natural history - but they tell us nothing about the individual and his history; they convey nothing of the person, and the experience of the person, as he faces, and struggles to survive his disease. There is no ‘subject’ in a narrow case history; modern case histories allude to the subject in a cursory phrase (a trisomic albino female of 21), which could as well apply to a rat as a human being. To restore the human subject at the centre - the suffering, afflicted, fighting, human subject - we must deepen the case history to a narrative or tale; only then do we have a ‘who’ as well as a ‘what’, a real person, a patient, in relation to disease - in relation to the physical.”

Thanks for reading, until next week…

FK