Islamic Revival In The Former Soviet Republics 15 Years After USSR Breakup

KUKAND, UZBEKISTAN - AUGUST 12: (ISRAEL OUT) Uzbek youth gather in the courtyard of the local mosque and madrasa, where they live and study Islam, on August 12, 2006 in Kukand near Margilan in the Fergana Valley region of the central Asian country of Uzbekistan. Fifteen years after the breakup of the former USSR, the millions of Muslims living between the Caspian Sea and China, who for decades found themselves repressed under Communism, are experiencing a religious revival as neighboring regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia strive to exert their influence on the vast region. Following the August 1991 abortive coup attempt in Moscow and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan declared independence on August 31, 1991. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)