Tajikistan’s Dead Insurgent Lives Forever Online

by Nathan Hamm

The following is a post submitted anonymously — Nathan After taking serious losses in an ambush and a helicopter crash (possibly shot down), Tajikistan’s security forces played catch-up recently and reigned in some cantankerous insurgents in the Rasht Valley. At the beginning of the year the Tajik government announced that an opposition commander by the [...]

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The Old Wound of Child Cotton Picking

by Joshua Foust

The Centre for Contemporary Central Asia and the Caucasus, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) has just published report a new report (pdf) on forced child labor in the cotton harvests of Central Asia. It focuses on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, seeking to determine whether either country has made progress in fulfilling its [...]

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Sanctuary in Ferghana

by Nathan Hamm

Oh, hey. Look! Someone’s making a mostly evidence-free claim that “the broad Ferghana Valley, where Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan converge, is turning into a key sanctuary for Islamic militants.” More power to The Dallas Morning News for picking up the story, I guess. But, it’s a pinch of really old news — that there’s this [...]

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Book Review: Hurramabad

by Christian Bleuer

I rarely read fiction anymore, so this book is one of the rare exceptions: Andrei Volos, Hurramabad, Moscow: GLAS Publishers, 2001. Translated by Arch Tait. Hurramabad is a collection of short stories on the theme of ethnic Russians in Tajikistan. The Russians of Tajikistan, who arrived as Soviet administrators and skilled workers, emigrated en masse [...]

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Two Comparisons

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

Our first post not directly or indirectly connected to the crisis in Kyrgyzstan… this is not to downplay recent turns of events, as I’m sure Registan will continue its efforts at coverage/analysis for the English-speaking audience that has a hard time finding aggregation of all the various updates on Osh, Jalalabad, et. al. I want [...]

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…it will be a bloody mess

by Gene Daniels

I once met an Uzbek political scientist from Tashkent who was visiting Osh. Among many other things we discussed the potential for violence in the Ferghana valley. I was arguing the position that post-Soviet Central Asians did not appear to be violent people and that I doubted the potential for wide-spread social violence in the [...]

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US Military’s Black Mountain Facility in Tajikistan

by Christian Bleuer
Thumbnail image for US Military’s Black Mountain Facility in Tajikistan

I can’t tell you how disappointed I am with the US Department of Defense’s chosen location for a new training facility in Tajikistan. Here’s the contract info: …National Training Center located in Karatog, Tajikistan. Work includes but is not limited to construction of a garrison compound and training ranges. The garrison compound includes administrative facilities, [...]

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Hijab Spring Fashion

by Mark

The other day when chatting with a fellow expat in Tajikistan I observed that their seemed to be more woman wearing hijabs this spring. My friend agreed and noted a marked increase in young school aged girls.  Last week I visited a primary school in Khujand and was suprised (not shocked, revolted, or dismayed, only [...]

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Tajikistan News and Blogs

by Christian Bleuer

Hi everybody, I’m building an online research portal for Tajikistan. It’s sure to bring me fame, money and widespread international praise, I’m sure. At the moment it’s about one-third finished. But I’m not too sure I have a full idea of all the blogs and news websites available. Could those of you in the know [...]

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Taxing Tajik Transportation

by Mark

With the recent talk of Kyrgyzstan’s “north-south” divide I found this development in Tajikistan interesting. Like it’s neighbor Tajikistan can also be fairly characterized as suffering from a  “north and south” split. Politically speaking there exists a rift between the old, Khujandi power base of Soviet times and the new administration hailing from Kulob. Entho-linguistically [...]

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