Where is Britain in all this? The ethnic conflicts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are inextricably linked with what is primarily an ethnic conflict in Afghanistan. Yet our policy in Central Asia, if it can be called one, is nothing but support for the very dictators who are impoverishing their states. The answer to the growth of Islamic radicalism is not for rival great powers to strive to prop up regional dictators. That approach is already leading to the growth in the kind of radicalism we are trying to suppress. We can no longer afford a short-term policy conditioned by the tactical expediency of securing regional logistic support for the Afghan War. We continue to ignore Central Asia at our peril.