republic · Central Asia and the Steppe

Tajikistan

1991 CE – present · capital Dushanbe

The only Persian-speaking state of former Soviet Central Asia, which recovered from a devastating civil war under the long rule of Emomali Rahmon.

Origins

The Tajik SSR declared independence on 9 September 1991. Tension between the old communist elite, largely from Khujand and Kulob, and an opposition of democrats, Islamists and Pamiris from Gharm and Gorno-Badakhshan erupted into civil war in 1992.

Rule and society

The civil war of 1992 to 1997 killed tens of thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands. Emomali Rahmon, from Kulob, became head of state in 1992 and president in 1994. A UN-brokered peace agreement in 1997 brought the United Tajik Opposition into government, but Rahmon later sidelined it and banned the Islamic Renaissance Party in 2015. The economy depends on aluminium, cotton, hydropower such as the Rogun dam, and remittances from migrants in Russia.

To the present

Tajikistan remains a presidential republic dominated by Rahmon and his family, with close security ties to Russia and growing Chinese investment, and periodic border clashes with Kyrgyzstan over disputed enclaves.

Lineage

Tajik SSR 1929 CE – 1991 CETajikistan

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Tajikistan. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tajikistan
MLA
“Tajikistan.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tajikistan. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Tajikistan.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tajikistan.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Tajikistan’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/tajikistan (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻