Karimov Youth

Uzbekistan is creating youth groups to augment its border security:

"The Uzbek authorities are recruiting a volunteer police force to help patrol the country’s borders.

"The force is being set up under the aegis of Kamolot, an official youth movement. Kamolot issued a statement on May 25 saying volunteer squads were being created in 'mahallas', neighbourhoods which come under the lowest tier of local government

"The Kamolot Posbonlari ('sentinels') will be deployed along the borders with Kazakstan and Tajikistan, and help the law-enforcement agencies tackle smuggling.

"An insider source in Uzbekistan says the country’s military has a significant presence in frontier areas, and is surely better placed to deal with smugglers than volunteer youth groups."

What this is really about, I suspect, is the government's interest in developing ways to socialize youth into its own ideology and loyalty to the regime.