86 JULY-AUGUST 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Feral cats are a familiar presence across Central Asia’s historic cities, weaving between the turquoise-tiled domes and bazaar alleyways that have drawn travelers along the Silk Road for centuries. In Samarkand—a city of nearly 600,000—these cats occupy an unofficial but accepted role in daily life, tolerated and often fed by locals. Neither fully wild nor domesticated, they exist on the threshold between two worlds, much like the city itself. Pictured here on a cold January morning, this stray feline leaped up on a bicycle seat immediately after the rider dismounted, surveying the ancient stones of Samarkand, presumably to secure a warm perch and look for an easy meal. n Michael Longhauser retired from the Foreign Service in 2021 and is now an eligible family member (EFM) whose wife is assigned to U.S. Embassy Tashkent. He took this photo with a Canon 5D MK2 and Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens. An earlier photo of his was featured in the January-February 2023 Local Lens. Please submit your favorite, recent photograph to be considered for Local Lens. Images must be high resolution (at least 300 dpi at 8” x 10”, or 1 MB or larger) and must not be in print elsewhere. Include a short description of the scene/event as well as your name, brief biodata, and the type of camera used. Send to locallens@afsa.org. BY MICHAEL LONGHAUSER n SAMARKAND, UZBEKISTAN LOCAL LENS
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