In our 2019 Annual Forecast, we said we expected Uzbekistan to challenge Kazakhstan as the dominant power in Central Asia. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed any progress toward that end, but now that the world seems to be getting past the worst of it, and especially now that Afghanistan is destabilizing again as the U.S. withdraws, the environment seems ripe for Uzbekistan to make a move. – Ekaterina Zolotova
The Geopolitics of the American President