Introduction
The collapse of the Soviet Union in December, 1991 led to the creation of five newly independent states in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Each of these states was conquered by Imperial Russia and was later tightly controlled by the USSR. The process of establishing themselves as truly autonomous states has been the central enterprise for these five countries over the past 27 years, an effort which has required expanding the development of the economic, educational, and touristic infrastructures, among others, of each nation. The focus of this publication is on these three aspects given the growing strategic importance of the region. Countries teetering on the brink of political and economic failure such as Afghanistan and Pakistan constitute a fertile breeding ground for all sorts of extremism and must be reinforced to ensure stability and prosperity. Several of those countries can be found in Central Asia; therefore, more must be done to assist them via actions such as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), infrastructure development, educational enhancement, technological advancement, and security refinement of border controls.
