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Chapter 6 Lecture
World Regional
Geography
A Developmental Approach
11th Edition
Central Asia and
Afghanistan

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Chapter Learning Outcomes
• Explain the central role played by Central Asia and Afghanistan in
the historic culture and economy of the Eurasian landmass.
• Express the importance of river valleys within the context of Central
Asia and Afghanistan’s population and economy.
• Indicate why the Aral Sea has shrunk dramatically and assess what
might be done to reverse this process.
• Describe how Central Asian urban spaces are and are not changing.
• Show how economic development without proper attention to its
effect on the environment can provide useful lessons to help
improve future development policy.
• Identify the reasons why so many rural Tajik men must migrate to
Russia to earn a living and discuss the effect that migration is having
on village life.
• Portray the plight of Afghan farmers and explain why they find it
difficult to stop growing poppies for opium.

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Map

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Landforms

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Landforms & Climate
• Three major regions dominate.
– Mountains
– Steppe—Dominates much of Kazakhstan. Low levels and variability of precipitation
makes agriculture difficult.
– Desert
• Largest portion of region
• Arid
• Prominent deserts
– Kyzl Kum Desert—East of Aral Sea in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
– Kara Kum Desert—in Turkmenistan
• Registan and Dasht-i Margo–in western Afghanistan
• Mountains
– Hindu Kush—in Afghanistan
– Pamirs–in Tajikistan and Afghanistan
– Fan—Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
– Tien Shan—Kyrgyzstan
– Majority of population lives in river valleys, foothills, or meadows at mountain bases.

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Waterways
• Caspian Sea—92 feet below sea level
• Syr Darya and Amu Darya Rivers—Feeds Kyzl
Kum and Kara Kum Deserts
• Zarafshan River
– Flows from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan
– Disappears in the Kyzl Kum Desert
• Afghanistan rivers
– Harirud
– Helmand
– Kabul
– Kunduz

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Environmental Challenges
• Many challenges are a result of Soviet
planning. Developments that were not
sustainable and had not considered welfare
of local residents
• Nuclear weapon testing in Kazakhstan and
Tajikistan
• Aral Sea Crisis
• Erosion from Virgin Lands Program
• Landmines
• Drought

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Ethnic Origins
• Two major groups dominate.
– Turkic ethnic groups
– Persian ethnic groups
• Silk Road
• 19th century—Became pawns between Great
Britain and Russia (the “Great Game”)
– Wakhan Corridor
• Area separating Afghanistan from China
• Separated Great Britain and Russia in 19th-century
Afghanistan

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Languages of the Region

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Soviet Union
• Three major influences
1. Centralization
• Dominated by Moscow
• Politically, economically, and socially
• Command economy
2. Collectivization
• All lands, goods, and equipment appropriated by the
government
• Consolidation of farms into large farms (collectives)
• Farmers paid stipends or in produce from farm
3. Russification
• Control of culture
• Emphasis on the Russian language

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Post Soviet Union
• Czarist administration and Soviets saw area as a
peripheral, undeveloped area.
• Soviets sought efforts to exploit their resources,
modernize their people, and bring their economy
into line with the rest of the sprawling area,
marking an uneven approach to development.
• Still some dependence with Russia (i.e., pipelines,
energy)
• Development of trade avenues (Turkey attempted
to step into breach)
• Opium drug trade (valuable for warlords; military
financing)

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Post Soviet Union
• Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan—Broke
away completely
• Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan—
Sought to integrate the Soviet past with an
often, government-controlled sense of
ethnic sensibility
• Some of these countries retained the
Russian language (forced by Stalin).

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Population of Region

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Religion

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Religion
• Religious fever pitch in 1930s; receded during
World War II
• Processes of secularism and Russification
sought to marginalize Islam in these countries.
• Religion (especially Islam) became personal—
practiced at home.
• Reactions to secular communism not restricted
to this area
– Bosnia and Herzegovina
– The Caucasus

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Economic Challenges
• Landlocked region
• Transportation routes go through Russia.
• Large mountains make links to other
regions difficult.
• Region considered to be “developing,”
which although true is seen as patronizing.
• War-torn regions nearby make trade
difficult.

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Natural Resources

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Agriculture

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Countries of the Region

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Central Asian Countries
• Central Asian Countries
– Kazakhstan
– Kyrgyzstan
– Tajikistan
– Turkmenistan
– Uzbekistan
– Part of U.S.S.R. from 1921 to 1991
– Prior to Soviet period, more closely tied to
south and west due to Islamic heritage

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Turkic Republics
• Kazakhstan
• Turkmenistan
• Uzbekistan
• Kyrgyzstan

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Tajikistan
• Poorest of the former Soviet Union republics
• Economy growing after many troubled years
• Cotton production, mining, and foreign aid
are largest parts of economy.
• Trade with Uzbekistan is difficult, although
that country is its most reliable partner
because of landforms.

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Afghanistan
• Independent since 19th century
• Close cultural and trade ties with region
• British and Russian struggle for control during the Great
Game
• North and West—Allied with Iran and Central Asia
• East—Allied with India
• Attempts at economic liberalization in 1960s and 1970s
• Communist coup in 1978
– Now routed in U.S.S.R. control
– Spawned resistance—mujahideen (insurgents)
– Lasted until 1992 after U.S.S.R. dissolved
– Original plan for ethnic rotation of control failed.

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Afghanistan

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Taliban
• Movement began in madrasas
• Quranic schools
• Financed by Saudi Arabia
• Located on Pakistani and Afghan border
• Very strict interpretation of Islam (Wahhabism)
– Very hostile to women
– Banning of sports and music
– Soccer fields converted to public disciplinary areas
• Students formed the core of followers of mullahs—
religious leaders.
• Gained control of country in mid-1990s
• North maintained something of a state of war.

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9/11 and Modern Afghanistan
• War in Afghanistan following assassination of
Ahmad Shah Massoud and New York and
Washington, D.C. attacks
• United States and Britain, allied with Afghan
warlords, drive Taliban from control.
• Elements of resistance still remain.
• Mullah Omar has never been captured.
• Struggle toward developing a democratic country
• Elections
– Parliament
– President Hamid Karzai

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9/11 and Modern Afghanistan
• President Karzai not well respected
• Taliban resurgent
• Border with Pakistan is troubled because
of Al Qaeda presence.

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Summary of Chapter
• Central Asia and Afghanistan are in a very precarious
place. In Central Asia, the revolutionary fever has already
hit Kyrgyzstan and the leaders of the other countries fear
that they could be next.
• Economically, the former Soviet republics of Central Asia
were devastated after independence, and while all have
made great economic advances since demodernization,
only Kazakhstan is moving toward substantive economic
development that has created jobs and wealth.
• Positive trends include the recent opening of many of the
economies, especially those bordering China, to
international trade and to competition from Russia and
other former Soviet countries, and the start of negotiations
to build oil pipelines that bypass Russia.