Alexander Cooley, a Member of the Saltzman Institute and the Chair of the Political Science Department at Barnard College, has published an opinion piece in the New York Times.

In the article, Dr. Cooley, who specializes in Central Asian politics, discussed the consequences of the United States' plans for pulling its troops out of Afghanistan. Prices for leasing infrastructure from the country's northern neighbours in order to withraw men and materiel is likely to skyrocket, says Dr. Cooley, and NATO has raised the possibility of selling some equipment to Uzbekistan instead of taking it with them. Many Central Asian governments have also been using their efforts in combating terrorism to demand assistance from the US.

As Dr. Cooley notes, the poor human rights records of these states puts American policy-makers in a difficult position: they might end up supplying authoritarian regimes with tools to continue repressing their populations.

The article is available on the New York Times' website.

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