Central Asia: The new battleground for US and China

The Samarkand declaration, describing Central Asia as the "core" of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), also reflects on the challenges and aspirations common to South Asia. This includes stabilising Afghanistan. The US strategy too recognises that a "secure and stable" Central Asia would contribute "directly" to the US's counterterrorism efforts and a "secure and stable" Afghanistan should be a top priority for the region. Facing serious divisions within, the China-led SCO does not have an ostensible anti-US tilt. However, competition between the US and China around the Indo-Pacific has eclipsed the competition — panning across an arc of Central Asia,…