Lewington, Richard. "The Challenge of Managing Central Asia's New Borders". Asian Affairs, Vol.41, No.2 (2010): 221-236.

Lewington, Richard. "The Challenge of Managing Central Asia's New Borders". Asian Affairs, Vol.41, No.2 (2010): 221-236.

• The maintenance of border security posed a major threat for the Central Asian republics upon independence, as the large internal borders had previously been unprotected administrative boundaries, and the external borders had been a union responsibility, not a republican-level duty, leaving the new states unprepared for the task (221).
• The nature of the internal boundaries also presented new dangers, as the borders were not properly demarcated, simply because they did not need to be. The borders also increased the separation between common peoples in an ethnically mixed area, inciting nationalist qualms for Tajiks or Uzbeks trapped apart from kin on the other side of an international border (222). 
• The author provides examples of the ridiculous and petty nature of these international borders in detail from page 222 to page 225.
• The author provides photographs and descriptions of border crossings between many Central Asian countries, from page 227 to page 229. This provides useful information about the quality of border control in the region.
• The poor conditions of life as a conscript on border patrol duty also help explain the influence of drug traffickers in the region. The author points about that this is especially true in Tajikistan, where the monthly salary is under $1 (228).
• The European Union has set up programs to attempt to assist the modernization of Central Asian borders, creating the Border Management in Central Asia Program (BOMCA), and the Central Asia Drugs Action Program (CADAP). These programs aim to provide better infrastructure at borders, provide modern equipment and vehicles for border patrol, and technical assistance through liaisons with European border protection programs (230).
• The programs also attempted to instigate a paradigm shift in the perception of borders by Central Asian governments, with a focus on the benefits of well managed borders for increasing state revenue and proper application of import and export tariffs. The argument of sovereignty has also been advanced, with better border monitoring allowing governments more control over activities within their country (230).
• The CADAP focuses more on public health than basic security, as funding has provided the creation of drug awareness training for ministries, media training for journalists on drug-related issues, the construction of rehabilitation clinics, and facilities to detect drug-related chemicals (232).
• This last initiative towards preventing processing chemicals used to drug manufacturing from entering other countries has been a particular success, as indicated by the increased levels of raw opium leaving Afghanistan as opposed to lowering levels of heroin (233).
• Specific units within the border patrol agencies of Central Asia also also being trained by European officers on how to properly profile potential traffickers, resulting in increased efficiency and greater ability to identify drug traffickers from among the general population (233).
• Parallel programs run by the IMO, OSCE, and the UN also provide assistance to the countries of Central Asia. Several countries, most notably the UK, Finland, Germany, the US, Japan, and Russia, also have bilateral assistance programs. The Russians have been especially important in protecting the Tajikistani border (234).
• The author provides inaccurate information of many factual situations in Central Asia, with the most prominent being incorrect demographic figures for Tajikistan. This, combined with minimal citations, means this piece should be treated with caution and verified before citation.