A U.S. dovetailing of interests in Central Asia is unlikely to last. September 11th moved Central Asia from being an area of peripheral importance to being a central US interest. [1] There is nothing to say that it will not sink back to being peripheral in the future. The Taliban were both sheltering extremists such as al Qaeda and exporting disorder to surrounding states. [2] As George Bush put it “make no mistake about it, the new war is not only against the evildoers, themselves; the new war is against those who harbor them and finance them and feed them.” [3] But with al Qaeda diversifying, terrorism no longer so high up the agenda and the United States drawing down in Afghanistan US and Russian interests are set to diverge.  [1] Boris Rumer, The Powers in Central Asia, Survival, vol. 44, no.3, (Autumn, 2002), pp.57-68, pp.63-64.  [2] Rajan Menon, ‘The New Great Game in Central Asia’, Survival, vol.45, no.2, (Summer, 2003), pp.187-204, p.188.  [3] At O'Hare, President Says "Get On Board", Office of the Press Secretary, September 27, 2001,