My first post for War and Strife will be talking about a little known cold war going on in Central Asia, between the up and downstream neighbors. Specifically, I mean Uzbekistan, who are downstream from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Uzbeks are threatening and perhaps planning to attack their upstream neighbors if the Kyrgs or Tajiks dam rivers that provide drinking water and irrigation water for the cotton fields. Uzbekistan is the 6th largest exporter of cotton world wide, which shows how much they care about this crop.
Stalin in the 1940’s tried to drain the Aral Sea, one of the largest water supplies in the region. The Uzbeks still demand uninterrupted water for their fields. The leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan want to develop electricity for their countries. Specifically, the Kyrgs want to build the Rogun dam on the Vakhsh River. The river is a major tributary to the Amudarya—the main water vein for downstream Uzbekistan.
Most of the Stans have adopted islam as the official religion and have a long-standing ruler. There are many ethnic conflicts within the countries. Uzbekistan put down a rebellion in the 1990’s, killing at least 100,000 people, so the history of the are is a violent one. The Tajiks had a major Wahibist insurrection, and ethnic cleansing has been a problem for several years. China borders two of the countries, and keeps a close eye on conflicts that may close off its Western border. It is interested in the gas routes flowing through the Central Asian countries, as well as the gold to be mined there. Russia wants to establish favorable trade agreements and tries to influence the countries. The US wants to be able to withdraw from Afghanistan through these same countries and not depend on Pakistan. Plenty of potential trouble, with water at the heart of it.
