The topic of this week’s Majlis, or panel discussion, was the Central Asians who made their way to Syria and Iraq to join with militant groups fighting in those two countries.
The Islamic State extremist group appears to now be making its last stand in places like Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria and other groups are similarly losing ground to the array of local and foreign military forces opposing them.
What might happen now to the Central Asians who helped fill their ranks?
Will they stay and fight to the end?
Will they flee, and, if so, where will they go?
Muhammad Tahir, RFE/RL's media relations manager, moderated the discussion. Przemyslaw Ozierski, the deputy director of the Central Asia Strategic Center for Analysis, took part from Bishkek. And joining the Majlis from the Foundation For Defense and Democracies in Washington D.C. were Aykan Erdemir, a senior fellow for Turkish Affairs, and Merve Tahiroglu, a Turkish Affairs researcher.
As usual, I also participated from Prague.
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Majlis Podcast: Where Will Central Asian Militants Go As They Flee The Middle East?