Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It has an area of 143,100 km2 (55,300 sq mi) and an estimated population of 9,537,645 people. Its capital and largest city is Dushanbe. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north and China to the east. It is separated narrowly from Pakistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. The traditional homelands of the Tajik people include present-day Tajikistan as well as parts of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
Most of rugged Tajikistan's transportation system was built during the Soviet era, and since that time the system has deteriorated badly because of insufficient investment and maintenance. In 2013, Tajikistan, like many of the other Central Asian countries, was experiencing major development in its transportation sector. Beginning in 2005, a series of major transportation projects were begun. The first such project, the Anzob Tunnel, was inaugurated in 2006, providing a year-round road link from Dushanbe to northern Tajikistan.
Foreign relations of Tajikistan are based on a desire to secure foreign investment and promote regional security while ensuring Tajikistan's independence. Sirodjidin Aslov is the current Foreign’s Minister of Tajikistan.
Transport in Afghanistan has steadily improved in the last decade. Much of the nation's road network was built during the 1960s but left to ruin during the 1980s and 90s wars. New national highways, roads, and bridges have been rebuilt in the last decade to help increase travel as well as trade with neighboring countries. In 2008, there were about 700,000 vehicles registered in Kabul.
Tajiks are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. They speak varieties of Persian, a Western Iranian language. In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small Pamiri and Yaghnobi ethnic groups are included as Tajiks. In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the Tajiks of Xinjiang, who speak the Eastern Iranian Pamiri languages. In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are counted as a separate ethnic group.
Kunduz or Qunduz is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northern part of the country next to Tajikistan. The population of the province is around 1,136,677, which is mostly a tribal society; it is one of Afghanistan's most ethnically diverse provinces with many different ethnicities in large numbers living there. Kunduz male population in 2013 was 485,400 persons while female population accounted for 468,400 The city of Kunduz serves as the capital of the province. It borders the provinces of Takhar, Baghlan, Samangan and Balkh, as well as the Khatlon Region of Tajikistan. The Kunduz Airport is located next to the provincial capital.
The Tajikistani Civil War, also known as the Tajik Civil War, began in May 1992 when regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan rose up against the newly formed government of President Rahmon Nabiyev, which was dominated by people from the Khujand and Kulob regions. The rebel groups were led by a combination of liberal democratic reformers and Islamists, who would later organize under the banner of the United Tajik Opposition. The government was supported by Russian border guards.
The Panj, traditionally known as the Ochus River and also known as Pyandzh or Pyanj, is a tributary of the Amu Darya. The river is 921 kilometres (572 mi) long and has a basin area of 114,000 square kilometres (44,000 sq mi). It forms a considerable part of the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border.
The Roghun Dam is an embankment dam under construction on the Vakhsh River in southern Tajikistan. The dam is situated 110 km from Dushanbe. It is one of the planned hydroelectric power plants of Vakhsh Cascade.
The Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge is a road and rail bridge across the river Amu Darya, connecting the town of Hairatan in the northern Balkh province of Afghanistan with Termez in the Surxondaryo Region of Uzbekistan. The bridge was built by the Soviet Union and opened in 1982 to supply its forces who were based in Afghanistan at the time. It is used today for trade and travel purposes between the two countries.
The Tajikistan–Afghanistan Friendship Bridge connects the two banks of Darvaz region across the Panj River separating Tajikistan and Afghanistan, at the town of Qal'ai Khumb. It was opened on 6 July 2004.
Shērkhān Bandar is an Afghan border town and dry port situated at the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It is located in the Kunduz Province of Afghanistan, next to the Panj River, near the border with Tajikistan. The dry port links Kunduz and Kabul in Afghanistan with Dushanbe in Tajikistan. Its old name was Qezel Qal'eh. It was renamed after Sher Khan Nashir, Khan of the Kharoti Nasher clan.
The bilateral relations between the Republic of India and the Republic of Tajikistan have developed considerably owing to both nations' co-operation on security and strategic issues. India has set up its first overseas military base Farkhor in Tajikistan. India also assisted in building Ayni hospital.
The Tajik–Afghan bridge at Tem-Demogan was opened on 3 November 2002. It spans the Panj River. It was the first of four bridges planned to be built with the assistance of the Aga Khan Foundation.
Relations between Afghanistan and Tajikistan began in 1992. Afghanistan maintains an embassy in Dushanbe and a consulate in Khorugh. The current Afghanistan ambassador to Tajikistan is LTG. Mohammad Zahir Aghbar. Tajikistan maintains an embassy in Kabul and a consulate in Mazari Sharif, Faizabad and Kunduz. The current Tajikistan ambassador to Afghanistan is Sharofiddin Imom.
Sangtuda 1 Hydroelectric Power Plant is a hydroelectric power plant, located on the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan. Construction commenced during the Soviet period in the 1980s, but halted in the beginning of the 1990s due to lack of financing when the station was about 20% complete. An agreement with Russia allowed to restart the construction, with four units entering service in 2008–2009. The plant was officially commissioned on 31 July 2009. Once working at full capacity, the plant will provide around 12% of Tajikistan's electricity output.
Panji Poyon, also known since the times of the Soviet Union as Nizhny Panj is a border checkpoint on the Tajik side of the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border. Both Tajik and Russian names mean literally "Lower Panj". It is the place of an Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bridge across the Panj River. At the opposite side of the river lies the Sherkhan Bandar of Kunduz Province, Afghanistan.
European route E 123 is a Class A north-south reference European route that connects the Ural region with Central Asia, spanning 2,760 kilometres (1,710 mi).
The Dushanbe Flagpole is a free–standing flagpole located in front of the Palace of Nations in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. At 165 metres, it was the tallest flagpole in the world from its completion in 2011 until the 2014 erection of the 171 m (561 ft) Jeddah Flagpole. It is now the third tallest flagpole in the world. It flies a 30 m × 60 m Flag of Tajikistan weighing 700 kilograms.
The Afghanistan–Tajikistan border is 1,357 km (843 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Uzbekistan in the west to the tripoint with China in the east, almost entirely along the Amu Darya, Pyanj and Pamir rivers, except for the easternmost section along the Wakhan Corridor.
