On January 30–31, the deputy prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Tokon Mamytov and Murodali Alimardon took part in negotiations to try to relieve tensions from recent border clashes, which involved exchanges of fire between their border guards. Mamytov and Alimardon reached an agreement to... MORE

For Tajikistan, the year 2013 was characterized by apparent tranquility even as the underlying sources of potential instability grew stronger. On the home front, the year was highlighted by a fraudulent presidential election and continued harassment of media and opposition figures, culminating in the highly... MORE

On November 30, Emomali Rahmon, the newly re-elected president of Tajikistan, held the first cabinet meeting of his new administration (Ozodi, November 30). In all, 22 new major appointments were made and the average age of cabinet members dropped from 56.7 to 52. The two... MORE

On November 6, Emomalii Rahmon was reelected to his fourth term as president of Tajikistan (BBC Tajik, November 7). The 61-year-old incumbent officially won 83.6 percent of the vote, defeating five candidates on his way to securing another seven-year term. More than 500 foreign observers,... MORE

Since September 2013, Central Asian jihadists, including returnees from Syria, have attempted to carry out high-profile attacks in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Other Central Asian jihadists in Syria have increasingly publicized their activities with al-Qaeda in Iraq and al-Sham (Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean). As the... MORE

The CASA-1000 project is confidently moving forward (see EDM, October 7) and the construction work, although a little delayed, reportedly will start in 2014 (https://www.regnum.ru/news/fd-abroad/polit/1708783.html). CASA-1000 is a large-scale proposed series of hydroelectric dams and power generation sites in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that would be... MORE

Dagestani leader Ramazan Abdulatipov last week (October 14) directed the district and city anti-terrorist commissions in his North Caucasus republic to launch a campaign to recall all Dagestani young people now studying abroad, especially in “crisis countries” where “various kinds of “terrorist actions, revolutions and... MORE

The lower house of Tajikistan’s parliament ratified on October 1 a long-delayed deal to extend the presence of Russia’s military base (the former 201st division) in Tajikistan until 2042. The deal will now have to be ratified by the upper house and signed by the... MORE

On September 16–17, officials from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan met in Islamabad to sign a Resolution on Contracting Structure and Commercial Principles in the effort to launch the CASA-1000 trade and energy project in 2014. The parties hope CASA-1000 will help bring electricity from... MORE

At a summit in Sochi, on Monday, September 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned leaders of the six-nation Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that Islamist militancy, such as that fueling the war in Syria, could reach their countries, particularly those with Muslim majorities. He pointed... MORE