The new great game in Central Asia

Greater Central Asia-the region consisting of the five Central Asian states, plus Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Xinjiang, and Afghanistan-has been strategically transformed. American strategic interests in Central Asia, marginal before the 11 September terrorist attacks, have suddenly become substantial. To continue the campaign against terrorism, the United States retained the Central Asian bases it acquired to destroy the Taliban. Central Asia's authoritarian governments are determined to deepen American involvement-as a safeguard against militant Islam and Russian hegemony. Russia is understandably anxious about the deployment of American troops on its southern periphery. Newly ensconced in a turbulent region, the United States faces the perennial problem of the powerful: preventing engagement from culminating in entrapment.