Reclusive Turkmenistan may be about to become a big problem , warn us . Five major concerns are : 1 ) its explosive demographic growth which is placing huge burdens on the economy with massive young unemployment - a major consequence of decades of extremist violence ; 2 ) it 's suffering from falling natural gas prices , its most important export ; 3 ) a major escalation of Islamist radicalism recently ; 4 ) a serious security threat from the south which its neighbours are unable to withstand ; and 5 ) its non - aligned status means it can not count on Russia or allies for help to defend it . There are ways Turkmenistan could become Central Asia 's " Kuwait " , especially under Islamist insurgency .
Reclusive Turkmenistan may be about to become a big problem, warn analysts. Five major concerns are: 1) its explosive demographic growth which is placing huge burdens on the economy with massive young unemployment - a major indicator of danger of extremist violence; 2) it's suffering from falling natural gas prices, its most important export; 3) a major escalation of Islamist radicalism recently; 4) a serious security threat from the south which its forces are unable to counter; and 5) its non-aligned status means it cannot count on Russia or others for help to defend it. There are fears Turkmenistan could become Central Asia's "Kuwait", collapsing under Islamist insurgency.