OCT. 3 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Iranian and Tajik energy ministers endorsed a memorandum of understanding on improving cooperation between the two countries on a range of issues from industry to social affairs, Iran’s Fars news agency reported. Iran and Tajikistan have worked on improving ties through the year.
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(News report from Issue No. 10, published on Oct. 7 2010)
OCT. 6 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — A military helicopter supporting operations against Islamist militants crashed in eastern Tajikistan. Initial news reports said that 28 elite soldiers died in the crash but Tajikistan’s National Guard refuted this and said later only seven military personnel had died.
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(News report from Issue No. 10, published on Oct. 7 2010)
SEPT. 23 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, claimed responsibility for an ambush in Tajikistan on Sept. 19 which killed at least 28 soldiers. The 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan nearly destroyed the IMU but in the last few years it has renewed attacks in Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 9, published on Sept. 30 2010)
SEPT. 19 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — At least 25 soldiers died in an ambush in the north of Tajikistan, the worst attack on the Tajik military for years. The ambush followed a surge of violence in the past few weeks, including two bomb attacks. Tajikistan’s government blamed militants.
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 16 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Created in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has a broad remit to promote economic, cultural and military cooperation between its 6 members; China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Certainly, the SCO has initiated a handful of economic and infrastructure projects but its roots are in military cooperation beginning in the mid-1990s. Some Western observers say the SCO could one day act as a counterbalance to NATO.
For now, though, SCO is politically too fractured to rival NATO and acts more as a regional forum to discuss anti-terrorist measures and energy policy than coordinate defence policies. Its regional anti-terrorist headquarters are based in Tashkent.
Notably, the SCO did not act during Kyrgyzstan’s revolution in April or in June during ethnic violence in the south of the country when hundreds died.
In 2008, the SCO and its members chose not to back Russia and recognise the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.
Still, the large scale and highly publicised war games are the SCO’s most eye catching activity. Peace Mission 2010, the SCO military exercise which started on Sept. 13 in Kazakhstan, is the biggest military exercise since Russia hosted it in 2007.
The SCO does appear to have wider geographic ambitions. India, Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia have SCO observer status, Sri Lanka and Belarus are dialogue partners and Afghanistan has been invited to SCO summits as a guest.
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(News report from Issue No. 7, published on Sept. 16 2010)
SEPT. 13 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — A 2 week long military exercise by the China and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) started in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, Russia and China sent 1,000 soldiers each, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent 150 soldiers each. Uzbekistan declined to send any. It is the biggest SCO military exercise since 2007.
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(News report from Issue No. 7, published on Sept. 16 2010)
SEPT. 6 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Commentators warned that Tajikistan could be struggling to contain Islamic extremism after two bomb attacks in three days, 2010. NATO wants a stable Tajikistan, a vital part of its supply chain for its forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
A previously unknown group called Jamaat Ansarullah in Tajikistan claimed the first suicide bomb attack on the police station. Reuters said this was the first suicide bomb in Tajikistan for 5 years.
The Tajik authorities originally blamed the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a well-known radical group in Central Asia with links to Afghanistan and al Qaeda. However, Jamaat Ansarullah in Tajikistan claimed responsibility for the attack on the website Kavkaz Center which publishes statements by radical groups fighting Russian forces in the north Caucasus.
No group has claimed responsibility for the second bomb in the Dushanbe disco. The authorities initially blamed hooliganism before arresting two men linked to Islamist groups.
The Tajik authorities frequently jail members of Islamic groups not endorsed by the government. They say their harsh line is needed to contain the threat. Opposition members say the authorities use this as an excuse to jail people critical of President Emomali Rkahmon.
The bomb blasts followed a breakout by 25 Islamist militants with links to Al Qaeda and radical groups in the north Caucasus from a jail in central Dushanbe (Aug. 23).
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(News report from Issue No. 6, published on Sept. 9 2010)
SEPT. 3 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two bomb attacks linked to Islamic extremists struck Tajikistan. A suicide bomber drove a car filled with explosives into a police station in northern Tajikistan and killed at least 2 men and injured 25. On Sept. 6, a bomb injured at least 7 people at a discotheque in Dushanbe.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 6, published on Sept. 9 2010)