Central Asia's republics are cautious about handing too much influence to Russia and China, which for centuries have sought to exert their power in the region.
Islamic militants have seized on these anxieties in their bid to establish religious regimes. Muslim separatists in Chechnya have waged a bloody guerrilla war to drive out the Russians.
Beijing faces its biggest internal threat from Muslim separatists opposed to China's rule of its westernmost region of Xinjiang.
Militant Uighurs, ethnically related to the Turkic groups dominant in much of Central Asia, have waged a campaign there of bombings and assassinations.
RSS