Short Essay on Tajikistan

Smallest and the most mountainous of all the Central Asian nations, Tajikistan is bordered by Afghanistan on the south, by China on the east, by Kyrgyzstan on the north, and by Uzbekistan on the north and west. Culturally, its national identity is complicated by its ethnic ties and outside influences.

Despite the political, economic and cultural links with other nations of Central Asia, the Tajiks share close ethnic relationship with the Iranian people and other Tajik groups living in northeastern Afghanistan. The Tajik and Persian lan­guages are closely related and are mutually intelligible.

Farming is the major economic activ­ity, with cotton growing as the leading crop produced. Raising of livestock—in­cluding long-horned cattle, Gissar sheep and goats—and the cultivation of fruits, grains (primarily wheat, rice, and barley) and vegetables are important. Horticulture has been traditionally important, and apri­cots, pears, apples, cherries, grapes, pomegranates, figs and nuts are widely grown.

Almonds and dried apricots are the country’s important exports. Only 7 per­cent of the land is arable, three-fourths of which is under irrigation. Agriculture in Tajikistan depends to a large extent on irri­gation, developed during the 1930s by the Soviet government and extended after World War II. Modern agriculture has relied on the heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the rivers descending from the Tajikistan have been carrying large amounts of pollutants into and through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Tajikistan is rich in mineral wealth, such as coal, iron, lead, antimony, zinc, gold, tin, and tungsten. Large reserves of natural gas and petroleum also exist, fair amounts of which are produced. Natural gas is exported after meeting meager do­mestic needs whereas most of the petroleum produced is consumed domesti­cally.

Besides gas and petroleum, other energy resources include sizable coal de­posits and hydroelectric power, but most of the electric power produced in the country is hydroelectric, obtained by the utilization of waters of the fast-flowing mountain streams.

Major power stations operate on the Syr Darya and the Vaksh River. A new hydroelectric power station was built in 1994 with assistance from Rus­sia and Pakistan. The chief mining areas are in the north. Coal mining and oil ex­traction began earlier than the extraction of natural gas which was started in the mid 1960s.

Tajikistan’s industry is based mainly on its agricultural production and consists of a dozen cotton mills and a few silk fac­tories, and on the extraction and processing of the country’s mineral re­sources (predominantly natural gas and petroleum). The biggest cotton-milling center is at the capital, Dushanbe.

Other light industries include the manufacture of knitted goods, leather tanning, and food- processing industries (including the processing of fruits, vegetable oils and to­bacco). Metalworking consists of the manufacture of power equipment, cables, agricultural and household implements.

As most of Tajikistan is mountainous, nearly two-thirds of its surface is covered with bare rock, sand, permanent snow and trees. It is the least urbanized state in Central Asia. Settlements are mostly strung in the irrigated farming areas along the foothill regions which are turned into oases, with cotton plantations, gardens and vineyards.

The capital city of Dushanbe (592,400) is in the Gissar Valley in the southwestern part of the republic, on the medieval caravan route from China to the fabled cities of Samarkand and Bukhara (Uzbekistan). It is an important regional railroad junction. A leading cotton textile center of the state, it also produces silk, textile machinery, clothing, leather goods, tractor parts, and foodstuffs.

On account of the predominant moun­tainous terrain of the country, railroads are limited to only 554 miles (891 km) of track that carries nearly half of the coun­try’s freight. The Soviet government had constructed several roadways, most of which contain paved surfaces. Air connec­tions to the outside world include flights to Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and other Cen­tral Asian republics via Dushanbe. The principal imports are machinery, and in­dustrial products, and exports cotton yarn, natural gas and petroleum.

After the collapse of the USSR, Tajik­istan suffered seriously resulting from the disruptions of the trading system that de­pended heavily on the Soviet Union. Civil war broke out in 1992, and high inflation caused large-scale disaffection. Although the country joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1993, Russia continued to assist heavily.

Foreign aid by Iran and Pakistan, and in­ternal restructuring of the economy continued in 1994 and 1995, but the pace of “privatization” and movement toward market economy remained cautiously slow. The future economic development appeared to depend mostly on the coun­try’s as yet largely unexploited mineral reserves, as well as the established cotton industry.