==THE NEW GREAT    GAME IN CENTRAL             ASIA====                                     Its important for americans to remember that america imports more than 50percent of its oil--more than 10mollion barrels a day.and the figure is rising.this dependence on foreign oil is amatter of national security.to put it blunt by sometimes we really upon energy sources from countries that dont particularly like us.                                  President george bush feb25,2002                                                                                           On december 16,2001 an american airbase in kyagzstan was set up the first US troops to be stationed on a coimbat mission the territory of the former sovient union to fight the taliban and the al qaeda terror network in afganistanmmore than 600 miles to the south.                                                                                                                      The terror attacks of september 11,2001 and the US war on terrorism starting inafghanistan have pushed centeral asia a region that had been as obscure the balkans 15 years ago, to the forefront of world attention.the vast territories between the eastern shores of the black sea and the peaks of the pamir range were known as the black hole of the world. after the soviet unions collapse in 1991,8 republics in hte caucsus and central asia GEORGIA,ARMENIA,AZERBAIJAN,KAZAKHSTAN,KYRGYZSTAN,UZBEKISTAN,TURKMENISTAN and TAJIKISTAN-----obtained independenc opening their borders to their southern neighbors and to china in the east.the goal was to establish new political and economic relations to smooth the transition from communism to capitalism.The caspian region is an area of strategic importance . the new gretat game was coined in the eariy 1990s by the pakistani journalist ahmed rashid in taliban militant islam oil and fundamentalism in central asia the term remins of the first great in the 19th century when the british empire and tsarist russia were fighting for supremacy in afghanistan.this new game centers arund regional pertoleum politics now instead of competing for actual conteol over a geographic area pipelines tanker routes petroleum consortiums and contracts are the prizes of new great Game.