Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, in central Asia.

Uzbekistan is a land-locked Central Asian nation, formerly part of the Soviet Union. It is the largest and most powerful country in Central Asia, bordering all other countries of the region.

Demographics

(CC) Image: George Swan
Centred directly over Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Eighty-eight percent of Uzbekistan's 27 million citizens are Muslims, and the majority ethnic group is the Uzbek people, a Turkic group. That Uzbeks form substantial minorities in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, and smaller but politically significant groups in Afghanistan and China, add to the country's influence.

Uzbeks, in comparison with nomadic peoples such as the Kazakhs, Tajiks and [[Kyrgyz people], have the longest association with their land. Shaybani Uzbeks defeated the Timurids to form an empire in 1500 AD. The Russians eventually came to dominate the Shaybanis.

Economics

Under the Russians, the capital, Tashkent, is the largest industrial and commercial center in the region. Uzbekistan is the world's third-largest cotton producer, although its intensive farming has caused great ecological damage.

Afghanistan

Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek, was one of the leaders of the Northern Alliance.

Uzbekistan is strategically and economically important to Afghanistan, as the main land route from northern Afghanistan crosses into Uzbekistan over the Friendship Bridge. Securing the Afghan cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Taloquan was an early priority in the Afghanistan War (2001-), major combat phase. Ethnically Uzbek troops under Berryelah Khan, were a major part of the Northern Alliance and key to the attack on Taloquan.

In December 2001, Uzbekistan and the UN signed an agreement to facilitate humanitarian supply, especially across the Friendship Bridge.