Tajikistan

Russia Buttresses Tajik Defences
Oleg Panfilov

Moscow is stepping up its military co-operation with Central Asia in an effort to combat the threat of armed Islamic extremist groups.

The presence of the chief of the Russian Defence Ministry, Marshal Igor Sergeev, at the latest joint military manoeuvres last week demonstrated the seriousness with which Moscow regards warnings of renewed extremist activity this spring.

Russian special forces, armoured units and fighter planes took part in the exercises in Tajikistan and south Uzbekistan. The combined military units mounted a simulated counter insurgency operation aimed at combating terrorists threatening Tajikistan.

Among the Central Asian republics, Tajikistan has the closest military co-operation with Moscow, largely because of the fact that of all the countries in the region it has the longest border with war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Moscow's growing support for Tajikistan is intended to buttress the republic's defences against incursions by Afghan militants to the south and home-grown Islamic insurgents on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in the north.

There are now between 22,000 and 25,000 Russian soldiers and officers in Tajikistan - twice the size of the republic's own armed forces. They form the 201 motor-rifle unit which was stationed here throughout the Soviet era. During this time, it guarded the Soviet Union's southern frontier and saw action in the Soviet-Afghan war.

As part of an agreement between Moscow and Dushanbe in 1999, the unit is to form the nucleus of a new Russian military base in Tajikistan - the first of its kind to be set up in Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In addition to guarding the Tajik- Afghan border to the south, part of the military base will be stationed in the north, home to a large Uzbek minority, as a safeguard against possible revolts. The move follows the rebellion in 1998 by the renegade ethnic Uzbek army commander Makhmud Khudoiberdyev.

Moscow is also helping to prepare Tajiks for military service. Many serve in the elite Russian units as part of their training and some are subsequently recruited as professional soldiers.

Following the five-year Tajik civil war, armed opposition groups were integrated into the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior. But efforts to forge a professional army were hamstrung by the unsuitability of former Mujaheddin, better equipped for guerrilla fighting and sabotage than modern warfare.

The poor quality of the military arsenal didn't help matters either. After the fall of the USSR in 1992, the Soviet army's hardware was distributed among the newly independent states, with the exception of Tajikistan.

At the time, the country was embroiled in a civil war and Russian generals and politicians were wary of assisting the Tajik government, as they did not consider it an ally.

Nonetheless, Russian soldiers and officers illegally traded their weapons with opposition and pro-government formations.

In 1993, a formal military alliance between Russia and Tajikistan was established when a pro-Moscow administration was installed in Dushanbe.

Russia went on to strengthen its military presence in the country. A Collective Peacekeeping Force was created, which nominally included all the Central Asian states, with the exception of Turkmenistan.

Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan each sent one motorized batallion, comprising about 150 men. But towards the end of 1996, their contribution fell dramatically, with Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan only represented by a few officers at the peacekeeping force's headquarters.

The fall in numbers was largely due to the contributing countries being unable to sustain the cost of their involvement.

The CIS regards Tajikistan as a buffer to defend its southern border against the Taleban forces of Afghanistan.

Following early Taleban victories over the Northern Alliance, Russia funnelled military hardware through Tajikistan to President Burkhanuddin Rabbani and the renowned commander Ahmed Shah Massoud.

Other countries sympathetic to the Northern Alliance used Tajikistan as a military conduit.

In 1998, 11 railways trucks carrying military cargo were detained in South Kyrgyzstan. The consignment had passed through Tajikistan on the way to Afghanistan - and would probably have done so with Russian consent.

Moscow's geopolitical priorities in Tajikistan were well illustrated recently when Russian General Leonid Maltsev, who commanded recent military exercises in the area, declared, "We must defend our mountains."

For the Tajik government, struggling to support its own armed forces, there appears little alternative to Russian assistance.

Oleg Panfilov is director of Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations in Moscow.

"Institute for War & Peace Reporting", 12 April 2000