Regional Processes and Geopolitics of India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan (IATU)

Abstract

The article attempts to examine the nature of interaction that exists among India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan (IATU) and the need to give an institutional basis to such a relationship spanning across Central and South Asia. Using some of the existing theoretical frameworks of regional cooperation, the study argues that even though such an institutional relationship looks futuristic, it has much relevance in the present context due to its functional necessity. Some of the factors such as a ‘common geo-culture’, ‘geo-strategic compulsions’, and ‘economic necessities’ are providing the basis for the emergence of such kind of cooperation among these four states.