[word=in] [!word=the] [lemma=central] [word=□]
[word=in] [!word=the] [lemma=central] [word=Asian]
[word=in] [!word=the] [lemma=central] [word=in]
The workshop attendees agreed that fresh water in arid Central Asian countries is a limiting factor for future social-economic development and environmental sustainability and emphasized the need for an extended and long-term scientific-methodological approach to assess the status of the ecosystems and their services in CA . At the same time , opposition political movements are today active in several Central Asian nations , especially in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan . The logic was that the population in these Central Asian republics was Muslim . China has challenged Russia for influence in several Central Asian countries , including Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan , where Chinese investments vie with Moscow 's and Chinese bicycles , electronic goods and other gadgets are pushing Russia 's out . Much of the investment for those projects , however , is coming from Russia , and the Kremlin presumably is not keen to see any slippage in its Central Asian economic position . There is also talk of bringing in several central Asian and Arab countries into the NATO fold . The real test for China would come should NATO seek to expand even further east - perhaps into Kazakhstan in its Central Asian back yard . The main transition in these Central Asian countries has been from the traditional smoking of opium or cannabis to the injection of heroin and other opiates among younger age groups . While a Uighur diaspora numbering well over half a million resides in nearby Central Asian republics , China has used political and economic incentives to persuade these countries - most prominently Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - to reject Uighur separatism . That 's why the governing groups in these Central Asian states are trying to handle the situation as if Central Asia also were [ part of ] the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church . Very few Uighurs managed to go to Europe , while most were left in these Central Asian states having nowhere to go . Afterward , the region became a U.S. ally in the global war on terror and Western troops were deployed in several Central Asian countries .