Tajikistan,officially the Republic of Tajikistan,is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital and most populous city. Tajikistan is bordered by Afghanistan to the south,Uzbekistan to the west,Kyrgyzstan to the north,and China to the east. It is separated from Pakistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 by Islamic ideologue Tahir Yuldashev and former Soviet paratrooper Juma Namangani;both ethnic Uzbeks from the Fergana Valley. Its original objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and create an Islamic state under Sharia;however,in subsequent years,it reinvented itself as an ally of Al-Qaeda. The group also maintained relations with Afghan Taliban in 1990s. However,later on,relations between the Afghan Taliban and the IMU started declining.
Robert Orris Blake Jr. is an American career diplomat who served as Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from 2006 to 2009,Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs from 2009 to 2013 and Ambassador to Indonesia from 2014 to 2016.
William Joseph Burns is an American diplomat who has served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Biden administration since March 19,2021. He previously served as U.S. deputy secretary of state from 2011 to 2014;in 2009 he served as acting secretary of state for a day,prior to the confirmation of Hillary Clinton. Burns retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a 32-year career. From 2014 to 2021,he served as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Richard Eugene Hoagland is a career ambassador in the United States Department of State. He was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in State's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs from 2013-2015. In the summer of 2016,based at the U.S. Embassy in Amman,Jordan,he was the senior U.S. liaison to the Russian Reconciliation Center at the Russian military base in Latakia,Syria. In 2017 he served as interim U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,the group appointed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to coordinate international peace-making efforts on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Erlan Abilfayizuly Idrissov is a Kazakh politician who served as Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan 1999 to 2002 and 2012 to 2016.
Wendy Jean Chamberlin is a veteran diplomat who has served in the United States Department of State and USAID,worked for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR),and served as President of the Middle East Institute until 2018.
Tracey Ann Jacobson is an American diplomat and a former United States ambassador to Turkmenistan,Tajikistan,Kosovo and Ethiopia. She served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from January 2017 through October 2017. She retired then returned to active duty in 2021 as the State Department's Director of the Afghanistan Task Force,and then as Chargéd’Affaires,ad interim,at the Embassy in Addis Ababa,Ethiopia. In January 2024,she was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as the United States ambassador to Iraq.
Burton Lynn Pascoe served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations at the UN Department of Political Affairs from 2007 to June 2012,where he oversaw the UN's diplomatic efforts to prevent and mitigate conflict around the globe.
Robert Halsey Pelletreau Jr. is an American former diplomat who was United States Ambassador to Bahrain (1979–1980),Tunisia (1987–1991),and Egypt (1991–1993),as well as the former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. He currently sits on the U.S. Advisory Council of the Israel Policy Forum. He is also a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and Council on Foreign Relations.
David Duane Pearce is an American diplomat who served from 2013 to 2016 as the U.S. Ambassador to Greece. He also served as the United States Ambassador to Algeria,2008–11 and as the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem from 2003-2005. He was the Assistant Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy in Kabul,Afghanistan from 2011-2012;and served as the Acting United States Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia from 2012-2013.
Paul Wayne Jones is an American diplomat who was the United States Chargéd'affaires to Pakistan and the former United States Ambassador to Poland. Prior to that,he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State and earlier he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia. He arrived in Warsaw,Poland,and began serving as ambassador on September 24,2015. He is widely regarded as one of the Foreign Service's only senior experts on both Europe and East Asia.
Peter Tomsen is an American retired diplomat and educator,serving as U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992,United States Ambassador to Armenia between 1995 and 1998,and was Deputy Ambassador at the United States Embassy in Beijing from 1986 to 1989. Ambassador Tomsen’s thirty-two year diplomatic career emphasized South and Central Asia,Northeast Asia and the former Soviet Union.
The Embassy of the United States in Beijing is the diplomatic mission of the United States in China. It serves as the administrative office of the United States Ambassador to China. The embassy complex is in Chaoyang,Beijing.
William Edward "Bill" Todd was appointed in May 2019 as Deputy Under Secretary for Management. He also served as the Acting Under Secretary of State for Management from February 2018 to May 2019. He retired from the Department of State in May 2021.
Nisha Biswal née Desai is an American businesswoman and public official in the United States. Biswal is the Deputy CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. She previously served as Senior Vice President for international strategy and global initiatives and oversees South Asia programs at the United States Chamber of Commerce. Prior to this,she served as the President of the US-India Business Council at the US Chamber of Commerce. Previously,she has also served as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs in the United States Department of State under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017. Biswal was the first South-Asian American to hold this position. She oversaw the U.S.–India strategic partnership during a period of unprecedented cooperation,including the launch of an annual U.S.–India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue. Biswal was awarded the prestigious Samman Award by the President of India in January 2017. Biswal was also instrumental in launching the US-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue,the C5+1 Dialogue between the United States and the Central Asian States of Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Biswal also serves on the United States Institute of Peace International Advisory Council,on the Afghanistan Study Group and is on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Sustainable Communities,the Leadership Council for Women in National Security and is active in Democratic politics.
Henry T. Wooster is an American diplomat who had served the United States ambassador to Jordan from 2020 to 2023.
Elizabeth Moore Aubin is an American diplomat and State Department official who has served as U.S. ambassador to Algeria since February 9,2022. She previously served as acting principal deputy assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary for regional multilateral affairs from January 20,2021 to June 7,2021.
The C5+1 is a diplomatic summit that has been held every year since 2015 between the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,Turkmenistan,and Uzbekistan,with the United States Secretary of State to discuss and work on common issues of concern to improve and strengthen the U.S. relationship with the five Central Asian states,but to also enhance the relations between the individual nations in Central Asia. The format is used to discuss regional issues such as the war in Afghanistan,the Syrian civil war,the War on terror,combatting drug and human trafficking,economic issues regarding trade relations,job growth in the region,and combatting environmental issues.
