New Great Game: Players, Interests, Strategies and Central Asia.

The hinterland of Central Asia had been the centre stage of nineteenth century imperial rivalry between Britain and Russia. The centrality of Central Asia did not diminish even in the New Great Game, though changed its dimension. The disintegration of Soviet Union changed the geopolitical realities in the region as well as in the world politics as the five Central Asian states, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan emerged. The three factors accrued significance to the Central Asian states in the International Politics. First factor is the geographical location of the region. Its geographical location makes it the landlocked region with no access to the Oceans. Hence it needs well developed land routes to access other countries. The second factor is the closeness of the region to the important world powers such as Russia and China. Thirdly these States are rich in energy resources such as natural gas and oil. These three factors play an important role in initiating the new phase of the Great Game in Central Asia. This research focused on the three dimensions of the New Great Game which are geo-economics, geopolitical and geostrategic with special reference of Central Asia. These three dimensions, according to this research, are interconnected and the development in one dimension affects the other. The major players of this New Great Game are Russia, China, United States, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan. These actors are pursuing their policies to achieve their objectives in the New Great Game. Regional actors such as Russia and China are trying to keep USA out of this region while USA aims to contain Russian and Chinese influence in the region. Another important aspect of the New Great Game is the pipeline politics. The involved stakeholders are trying to build the pipelines which fulfill their aims to dominate energy reserves of this regio