Publication

This paper argues that the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan in 2014 will see the revival of some historical 'mega-trends' in the region, most notably the revival of the original Russian-Chinese 'Great Game'. For almost three centuries, Central Asia served at the preeminent zone of confrontation between China’s Manchu Dynasty (1644-1912) and Russia’s Romanov Dynasty (1613-1917). Now, the Heart of Asia has once again become the zone 'Between and Betwixt Empires' in more than mere geopolitical terms.