WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- While mountains and brutal winter weather seem to go together, the frigid cold front that has settled over Central Asia is causing unparalleled misery in two of the region's poorest nations, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- While Western attention in the search for hydrocarbons in the Commonwealth of Independent States has until now focused largely on the Caspian Sea, the race is heating up to exploit Central Asia's last significant body of water, the Aral Sea.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Since 1991, the world has been in a mad dash for the energy resources of the Caspian, leaving out the resource-poor mountainous eastern nation Tajikistan. Sixteen years after the collapse of communism, the former Soviet republic may have the last laugh, as it sits atop immense water resources, which if properly utilized, will allow it to generate surplus energy for export and negotiate lucrative water contracts with their parched downstream neighbors.

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 28 (UPI) -- The government of Afghanistan and the Wildlife Conservation Society have started a project to protect that nation's unique wildlife.

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Central Asia could be facing a major radioactive contamination risk, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Eurasian Economic Community is warning.