Referendum results show that over 94 percent of Tajiks approved a change to the constitution allowing President Emomali Rakhmon to run for office indefinitely, according to Business Insider. The international community has long decried Tajikistan’s history of election fraud, however, and the recent results are highly questionable. Rakhmon has ruled the country since 1992.
The United States categorized Tajikistan under the official banner of “country of particular concern,” pertaining to the government’s crackdown on religious freedom and other human rights abuses, according to EurasiaNet.
U.S. leadership, however, has decided not to pursue sanctions against the Central Asian country due to its vital role in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking. The Defense Department announced that Tajikistan would receive $50 million in assistance over the next few years to combat terrorist influence in the region.
As of this year, there’s an army that’s ready to give a paying job to a few members of Tajikistan’s legion of unemployed men—Russia’s.
The 201st Russian Military Base in Tajikistan has long employed local soldiers. But they were prohibited from fighting under the Russian flag abroad. Now, a law signed by President Vladimir Putin on January 2 allows foreign citizens to fight for Mother Russia anywhere in the world.
Central Asia’s two least-developed countries, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, are both heavily dependent on Chinese investment these days. Now, it appears Chinese investors are tiring of persistent uncertainty in Kyrgyzstan and are shunning the country in favor of neighboring Tajikistan.
