ABSTRACT

Since it attained independence on 9 September 1991 (the sovereignty of the state having been proclaimed in June 1991), Tajikistan has been going through a very painful period of transition, marked by a series of political crises. These have resulted in the division of the Tajik people into rival and antagonistic clans; foreign intervention, essentially by Russia and Uzbekistan; and a civil war which has made the country the battlefield of choice for the political and ideological struggles of the region.