![A police officer walks on a road as smoke rises after an explosion during a de-mining operation near the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in the village of Ak-Say, some 1000 kilometres from Bishkek, on September 21, as the worst violence the two ex-Soviet countries have seen in years broke out last week on their contested border. AFP](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/3O2BZRJOD445UOWFAHYO64VGHA.jpg?smart=true&auth=10e88464e37c2cc7b2d3d447d927e35f2a4b296fa5e6cf16ae82193d15d84401&width=400&height=225)
A police officer walks on a road as smoke rises after an explosion during a de-mining operation near the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in the village of Ak-Say, some 1000 kilometres from Bishkek, on September 21, as the worst violence the two ex-Soviet countries have seen in years broke out last week on their contested border. AFP
A police officer walks on a road as smoke rises after an explosion during a de-mining operation near the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in the village of Ak-Say, some 1000 kilometres from Bishkek, on September 2Show more
Central Asia has not been so unstable since the fall of the Soviet Union
![David Loyn](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Farc-authors%2Fthenational%2F974e74be-4ef5-4a7d-857b-1134df6dd344.png?smart=true&auth=bd0666fb5c1e40414b8869b0b5307f52d42cef0419abd3e002a7335ff704990c&width=70&height=70)
David Loyn
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David Loyn is the author of The Long War – The Inside Story of America and Afghanistan since 9/11. He is a visiting senior fellow in the War Studies Department in King’s College, London
17 October, 2022