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Kyrgyzstan
National Security Prospects
Although internal stability has not been a serious problem during
the Akayev era, events in the mid-1990s threatened to make it
so. By 1995 economic hardship, to which international experts
did not predict a rapid end, combined with insufficient internal
security forces and the opportunity for profits from organized
narcotics activities to threaten the stability of Kyrgyzstan's
society, especially in the major urban centers of Bishkek and
Osh. The high crime rate also interfered with plans to attract
Western tourist trade.
Meanwhile, as of 1995 external security came exclusively from
Russia, a situation that Kyrgyzstan officially welcomed in the
absence of domestic resources to build a credible military force
for its very small and isolated nation. As in the economic field,
however, policy makers were not sure how long Russia would view
strong support of Kyrgyzstan's national security as an important
element of Russian foreign policy. Although no major regional
threat loomed in the mid-1990s, major policy questions remained
unanswered.
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A useful reference for general historical background is Central
Asia: 120 Years of Russian Rule , edited by Edward Allworth
and revised in 1994. The Kyrgyzstan chapter of Martha Brill Olcott's
Central Asia's New States is a concise description of
the republic's status in the post-Soviet world. Several publications
of the World Bank provide detailed information about social and
economic developments in the 1990s. Among the most useful are
those entitled Kyrgyz Republic: Economic Report ; Kyrgyz
Republic: Agricultural Sector Review ; Kyrgyz Republic:
Energy Sector Review ; and Kyrgyzstan: Social Protection
in a Reforming Economy . For general background on Kyrgyz
society and customs, the government's Discovery of Kyrghyzstan
is a valuable source. (For further information and complete citations,
see Bibliography.)
Data as of March 1996
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