Tag Archives: Tajikistan

Taliban move closer to Tajikistan

APRIL 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Taliban forces have launched a series of major attacks on government checkpoints and bases in the previously stable Badakhshan region of northeast Afghanistan, media reported.

Badakhshan borders Tajikistan and its worsening security situation will alarm Tajik officials. They have warned that the Taliban may have designs on Central Asia once NATO forces leave.

Reuters reported that at least 18 government policemen were killed fighting Taliban forces in Badakhshan. Eight of them had reportedly been beheaded.

It also said that government forces had killed 19 Taiban fighters, suggesting that there had been a series of fairly major battles.

Spring marks the start of the fighting season in Afghanistan after the snow melts away allowing mountain passes to be crossed. This year’s season is being particularly closely watched to see how both government forces and the Taliban respond to the official end of the NATO combat mission.

Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have said that they are all increasing security along their borders with Afghanistan.

Russia has also pledged more support along Central Asia’s borders. It wants to pull Central Asia more closely into its wider security reach.

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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Tajikistan closes currency points

APRIL 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s Central Bank ordered currency exchange points throughout the country to be closed to try and protect its somoni currency losing more value. The somoni is under pressure as remittances from Russia dry up. It has lost 15% of its value this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Tajik staff at Russian base strike

APRIL 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Dozens of local contractors working at the Russian military base in south Tajikistan have gone on strike over unpaid wages, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported (RFE/RL). RFE/RL quoted an official at the base blaming a local contracting company.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Tajikistan to build $100m theatre

APRIL 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -Tajik president Imomali Rakhmon plans to build Central Asia’s largest theatre for $100m, media reported. Mr Rakhmon is partial to grandiose projects. Earlier this year he ordered work to begin on a new city in the desert. Dushanbe boasts one of the world’s tallest flagpoles.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Mud slides in Tajikistan kill 10 people

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Mudslides in Tajikistan have killed at least 10 people, media reported. The mudslides highlight the often poor state of infrastructure in Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Russia gives Tajikistan military aid

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan is poised to receive $1.2b in military equipment and weapons from Russia to fight against the radical Islamic group IS.

An unnamed source in the Russian Defence Ministry told Russian newspaper Kommersant the aid will be spread across the next few years. What is clear is that the aid pulls Tajikistan further into the Kremlin’s orbit and strengthen its security driven regional focus.

It also intensifies the rhetoric. Previously Russia and Tajikistan had discussed the threat posed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. That has now morphed into the threat from IS. IS had previously only been associated with recruiting in Central Asia.

Some analysts are sceptical and have said that Russia and various Central Asia countries are using IS and the Taliban as a scare-mongering tactic.

Earlier this month, President Emomali Rakhmon criticised women for wearing “foreign, non traditional clothes,” while the state television channel insinuated that demand for prostitutes wearing black hijabs was increasing. This resonated as a subtle comparison between women wearing traditional Islamic head scarves and prostitutes wearing black hijabs (April 1).

Tajikistan has taken a strong stance against radical Islam. This means more control over society, less freedom of expression, and more options for arbitrary rule of law.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Tajikistan raises taxes on mobile phones

APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan has raised tax on mobile phone connections to 5% from 3%, an industry website reported. Reports said that the increase in tax will force mobile phone companies to pass on the extra cost to their consumers, pushing up inflation across the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

US State Dept criticises its embassy in Dushanbe

APRIL 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US State Department has criticised its embassy in Tajikistan for filing sanitised reports on civil violence in the south of the country in 2012 which ended with Tajik US-trained Special Forces shooting dead 20 civilians, the eurasianet.org website reported. The US State Department said its confidence in the embassy had been undermined.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Tajikistan in corruption bust

MARCH 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Tajikistan have detained two senior officials at the State Agency for Drugs Control on suspicion of bribe-taking, media reported. The detentions, underline just how entrenched corruption is in Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Bribes halve in Tajikistan

MARCH 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Worsening economic conditions in Tajikistan have even knocked the value of bribes in the notoriously corrupt country, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. It said that the value of bribes had halved over the past few months.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)