Tajikistan, Post Soviet Era

In the post World WarII Soviet era,irrigation was expanded

in Tajikistan's agricultural system,industries evelope,and the

level of educayion rose.During this period, political life was

dominated by a series of non-descript party functionaries.

In the late 1980s, the oppenness of the Soviet regime of

Mikhail Gorvacheb ( in office 1985-91) stimulated a nationalist

movement in Tajikistan, and Tajik leaders reluctantly declared

sovreignity in 1991, when the disslution of the Soviet Union

became inevitable.

The last Communist party leaders, Rakhmon Nabiyeb, was elected

the first president of independent of inependent Tajikistan in 1991.

A year later, a conflict between the government and reform groups

led to the collapse of the Nabiyebgovt.and then to a civil war that

lasted five years and cost between 50,000 to 1,00,000 lives.

Imomali Rakhmonov, who had taken piwer after the collapse of the

coalition govt. that followed Nabiyeb'sfall, was elected president in

1994 without the partcipation of opposition parties.
The post-Soviet era:

In the mid-1990s, rebel forces gained control of large parts of eastern

Tajikistan, even though the Govt. had Russian troops at its disposal.

After sporadic ceasefires and negotiation , in 1997 the Rakhmonov Govt.. signed a peace accord with the United Tajik Opposition UTO) , a coalition of Islamic leaders and secular politicians.In the years that followed, insurgent groups of the UTO remained active in some parts of the country, an a series of assassinations resulted. In 1999 the UTO respondedto the additionof more UTO represntativesin govt. positions by disbanding its armed forces, and the UTO fighting force was integrated intonthe armed forcsof Tajikistan .However , at the same time the extremist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was building bases in the mountains of Tajikistan and establishing a large-scale trade in narcotics from Afganistan. In the early 2000s, the the narcotics trade was an increasingly serious problem, even after the defeat of the IMU in Afganistan in early 2002.