Shortly after taking control of protecting the Afghan border, Tajik border guards proved their mettle by intercepting more than 120 kilos of heroin. The border guards fired upon the drug traffickers, but were only able to capture one.
While there are almost certainly forces at work here not reported by the media, this development […]
Uzbek officials say that Uzbekistan is nearing completion of a decision reached several years ago to liquidate landmines along its Tajik border, according to the new Russian-language Uzbekistan blog, ????? ????????? ????? (The New Word on Uzbekistan, literally the New Uzbek Word). This means that hopefully, Tajik border guards wont face the same […]
Two Tajik soldiers were confirmed dead today after a landmine exploded beneath their patrol car. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before this happened to the border guards; many of the landmines are unmarked, and were not planted by their new Tajik custodians (thanks to Younghusband for that last link).
The landmine […]
About three years ago the Tajik government recognized the problem of human trafficking in the region by enacting legislation to address the problem. The US State Departments Trafficking in Persons Report says about the law:
The Government of Tajikistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it […]
According to this article at Religioscope, the Tajik government banned head scarves in secular schools on October 19. In the article a student of the Tajik national university comments, “What did the authorities achieve by banning the hijab in France this was in a European country, and now it is in flames.”
Naturally […]
As of now, HIV/AIDS is virtually nonexistent in Tajikistan. The World Health Organization and UNAIDS reported under 400 cases at the end of 2003. However, given the amount of intravenous drug use in the region, the US State Department describes Tajikistan as fertile ground for an outbreak, and an increased number of […]
The Asian Development Bank is loaning $29.5 million US dollars to Tajikistan for the construction of a highway that will link Dushanbe with Kyrgyzstan. The Tajikistan government will fund the remaining $9.5 million for the road project. This construction is part of a larger plan that will ultimately link to China, Russia, […]
Sobaka (which I learned of from ComingAnarchy) has a very interesting article on the Hizb ut-Tahrir in Tajikistan, although it is two years old. Basically, two Russian reporters take to the streets to find out more about the shadowy Central Asian Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
In the beginning of the article, the Tajik […]
The last couple weeks have not been good for Tajik journalists. The government is cracking down on independent media, requiring increasingly stringent qualifications to register new broadcast channels and journals. Like most authoritarian governments, Tajikistan employs the favored method of control: ridiculous regulations and forms that one must fill out just right […]
Though it hasn’t gotten much press, it appears that Tajikistan and Iran are about to ink a deal that would establish a regional free trade zone along with Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Iran sees its fellow Farsi-speaking neighbor as kindred, and the most natural inroad to Central Asia, and has been pursuing inroads to Tajikistan […]
