Tajikistan Facilities
Tajikistan gained its independence in 1991. Since then it has experienced three changes in government and a five-year civil war. Random criminal and political violence in the country remains a complication impairing Tajikistan’s ability to engage internationally. Eighty percent of the country lives below the poverty line.
In 1991, about 600,000 people were internally displaced and another 60,000 fled to Northern Afghanistan as a result of the civil war that erupted after Tajikistan’s independence. By mid 1999, some 20,000 refugees had returned to their places of origin.
The United States remains committed to helping Tajikistan in any way it can develop their economy, recover from their war and 2 years of severe drought, and rebuild its infrastructure so that the Tajik people may prosper in a stable, productive, democratic, and tolerant society.
Despite reports in late 2001 claiming that US forces were operating out of facilities in Tajikistan, there was initially little to indicate that US forces were actually in Tajikistan. In every government document describing Coalition efforts and contributions to the war on terrorism, Tajikistan was not described as a state that has served as a site for US troops. There was evidence to support the operations of Russian forces but not American.
Tajikistan offered a dilapidated military airfield located near the capital Dushanbe, which was estimated to cost NATO some $50 million to restore completely. The leader of a congressional delegation that visited Dushanbe in early January 200 said, however, that Tajik airfields would not have a long-term US military presence, but that the Pentagon would be moving its forces from place to place as needed.
The Government of Tajikistan was a supporter of Operation Enduring Freedom. Its primary contribution has been the use of its international airport in Dushanbe for coalition refueling and basing. By June 2002 the U.S. Air Force had refueled over 400 C-17 sorties in Dushanbe, with British and French air forces also refueling and basing at the airport.
Three years since 9/11 and the October 2001 war in Afghanistan, the American military presence in Central Asia continued unabated. The US military consolidated forward basing in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and maintained contingency access to the Almaty and Dushanbe airports.
In FY 2000, the U.S. Government provided an estimated $49.30 million in assistance to Tajikistan, including $33.90 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food aid through Food for Progress and Section 416(b) Programs, $9.93 million in FREEDOM Support Act (FSA) assistance, $140,000 in other U.S. Government assistance, and $5.33 million in U.S. Defense Department excess and privately donated humanitarian commodities. USAID programs, which accounted for about $7.5 million of FSA-funded assistance to Tajikistan, were focused on the broad areas of democracy and governance, economic restructuring, health sector support, humanitarian assistance, and energy and environment assistance. In addition to providing FSA-funded assistance, USAID also provided $25,000 in assistance through Child Survival and Matching Grant Programs of its Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. The U.S. State Department's Public Diplomacy exchange programs accounted for approximately $1.0 million.
US Government assistance to Tajikistan has focused heavily on supporting political reconciliation and the establishment of a stable, pluralistic government. This has included direct support for the now-completed peace process, for demobilizing combatants, and for political party development and election administration. The U.S. Government also has promoted the development of a more active civil society in Tajikistan in order to build demand for democratic practices. To facilitate Tajikistan's transition to a market economy, the U.S. Government has helped the Government of Tajikistan rewrite laws and recast the public institutions needed to foster economic growth in a free market. To spur economic growth, the U.S. Government has promoted privatization, commercial law reform, microcredit programs, agricultural-sector development, and the strengthening of local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
The U.S. Government's regional environmental and energy programs have supported Tajikistan's participation in regional water and energy management programs along with its Central Asian neighbors. U.S. Government-funded assistance in the health-care sector has demonstrated the openness of the Tajik medical community to quality improvements and the willingness of the Ministry of Health to support needed health-sector reforms. In FY 2000, U.S. Government-funded humanitarian assistance programs continued to target vulnerable groups throughout the country. Through extensive U.S. Government-funded training programs, thousands of Tajik citizens from a wide range of sectors have gained the skills needed to move forward with reforms in the public sector and to build a prosperous private-sector economy.
The United States recognized Tajikistan on December 25, 1991, the day the U.S.S.R. dissolved, and opened a temporary embassy in a hotel the capital, Dushanbe, in March 1992. After the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, Embassy Dushanbe American personnel were temporarily relocated to Almaty, Kazakhstan, due to heightened embassy security standards. American Embassy Dushanbe personnel continue to work in Tajikistan on an unscheduled and intermittent basis. The embassy can be reached 24 hours a day, by calling either the Dushanbe or Almaty offices.
