Once the center of world civilizations, and at the crossroads of flourishing international trade routes, Afghanistan is now one of the poorest nations in the world. After thirty years of conflict, its people endure one of the world’s lowest income levels at a mere $1000 per annum – despite a quadrupling since the fall of the Taliban regime. The country has been devastated by war and not yet rebuilt...

A young country with old roots, Pakistan became an independent state in 1947, though the region forming the modern country is the site of richly layered ancient cultures. Born an explicitly Muslim state, the struggle between its secularism and Islam has never been so pronounced as in recent years. With a population of over 170 million, the country is crippled by rivalry with India over Kashmir, and a number of...

Uzbekistan is a landlocked nation of 27 million people that borders Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Since establishing independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, Uzbekistan has faced many challenges including widespread poverty and civil unrest. It was once, however, the center of the great Persian and Sassanid Empires that stretched across Central Asia and the Middle East, home to the warrior-king Tamerlane, and Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand, the...