Central Asia has emerged as a pivotal region in the modern world. Formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it comprises the five former Soviet republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. What makes this region strategically significant is not just its unique geographic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, but also its vast natural wealth, including fresh water reserves, oil, gas, and minerals. Moreover, some of the world’s most critical existing and potential transport and trade corridors pass through its territory, positioning Central Asia as a key player in global politics and economics.
First of all, we are talking about the “Great Silk Road”, which connected East Asia with the Mediterranean in ancient times and in the Middle Ages, and was primarily used to export silk from China to European and other world markets. Tajikistan occupies a special place in the system of international relations of the Central Asian region. Pursuing a policy of complementarity during the years of independence, Tajikistan has managed to establish strong ties with both Russia and the leading Western states.
Since Tajikistan is a strategic partner of Russia in the region, the analysis of the place and role of this country in the system of international relations of the Central Asian region is important from the point of view of further development of political science research in Russia. It should be noted that since issues related to maintaining stability and security are becoming especially relevant in a dynamically changing world. Based on this, the most important priority of Tajikistan is not only the issue of security, but also economic integration. For Tajikistan, one of the most effective mechanisms of regional integration has become the Eurasian Economic Community. This organization for Tajikistan is not just a practical implementation of Eurasian integration, it is a unique opportunity, together with Russia and other members, to enter the European market and deepen cooperation with the West.
Currently, Central Asia is an object of intersection of geopolitical interests of three world powers at once: Russia, the USA and China. The interest of the participants of the so-called “Central Asian Great Game” in political and economic dominance in the region is closely related to the need to solve security problems in Central Asia. Despite the temporary weakening and loss of interest in Central Asia in the first period after the collapse of the USSR, Russia was and remains the most influential force in the region, and this cannot be ignored.
On the other hand, in the current conditions, Russia is the only link between Central Asia and Europe. Thus, Tajikistan is active in integration processes in the Central Asian region, initiates and participates in regional organizations that are aimed at ensuring security, overcoming the economic backwardness of the countries of the region, building transport, communication and economic ties, creating a competitive regional economy, and accessing world markets.
Tajikistan and Regional Security Problems
In 21st century, the scale of threats facing humanity has not only not decreased, but on the contrary, is becoming catastrophic. These threats, based on their essence and goals, can be divided into several groups.
Firstly, this is an increase in the number of both state and non-state factors possessing nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction, or striving to create them. In the modern world, the problem of smuggling and drug trafficking continues to be one of the most important issues on the agenda not only for the Central Asian countries and their neighbors, but also for the entire world community. Since the collapse of the USSR, the drug business has had a serious impact on the socio-economic development of the Central Asian region. This circumstance is primarily due to the geographical proximity of Central Asia to the largest center of production and distribution of narcotic substances – Afghanistan.
The security of Tajikistan, like all Central Asian countries, at the current stage of its development largely depends on the political processes that are actively underway in this region. First of all, this concerns the formation and spread of Islamic radicalism, the influence of the Afghan crisis and the many times increased production of drugs in Afghanistan. The latter factor is especially significant for the security of our country. After the civil war, Tajikistan faced an equally serious problem – the problem of illegal drug trafficking, which, according to President Emomali Rahmon, “threatens not only the deepening of the peace process, security and stability in the country, but also, to a certain extent, becomes a serious obstacle to the development of the statehood of independent Tajikistan.”
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Secondly, this is the danger of increasing regional conflicts based on religious, racial, ideological confrontations and the struggle for the possession of energy resources and sources of raw materials, a new division of the world market, which occurs as a result of a clash of interests of various states.
Thirdly, this is the process of strengthening the regional and world positions of international terrorism and extremism, illegal drug trafficking and arms smuggling, organized crime, as well as the spread of ideas of violence, the use of religion for political interests and the abuse of the media.
Fourthly, these are new elements of a universal threat in the form of unique achievements in the computer sphere, communication technologies and communications.
The concept of security was previously perceived only from a military point of view – as the possibility of starting a new world war with the use of weapons of mass destruction. With the formation of a new world in the international arena, non-traditional security threats have emerged, and the underground drug business is one of these threats. Of course, no state in the world is able to localize this threat by its own efforts. A number of intergovernmental agreements have been signed between the countries of the Central Asian region. The internal affairs agencies of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan closely interact with each other and with Interpol, and an interstate exchange of information on drug trafficking has been established.
Today, the national security of states depends not only on a powerful army, but also on economic, energy and a number of other factors. Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as other countries in the region, are interested in maintaining stability in the region and forming a security system in which they will be able to fully, without obstacles, implement their energy projects.
An important feature of Central Asia is that two of its countries, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, are located in the zone of water flow formation, while the other republics are in the zone of flow dispersion. Water is a key factor in the well-being of the Central Asian countries. There are also basic differentiations in the main use of water in the region. For Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, this is the use of water mainly for the development of hydropower, and for Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – for irrigated agriculture.
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Having found itself on the front line of the war declared by the world community against international terrorism and in the face of such transnational threats, Central Asia is becoming increasingly important in the system of foreign policy priorities of regional and global players in world politics in the field of international security. These are primarily Russia, the USA, China, and the Islamic world. The nature and scale of threats to the security of the Central Asian states from aggressive extremist groups have noticeably transformed after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The attention of the leaders of these countries has shifted from the previously priority fight against the IMU, officially linked to the terrorist network Al Qaeda, to the Hizb ut-Tahrir party.
Thus, conflicts are assessed as factors threatening stability and security in Central Asia. Other sources of conflicts in Central Asia include the following:
a) Territorial problems
b) Border problems
c) Water resources management strategies
d) Ethnicity
d) Uneven level of development of the countries in the region
e) Elite reasons
g) Orientations of the states in the region
For example, the sources of territorial conflicts in Central Asia can primarily be; existing enclaves of some countries on the territory of another such as the Tajik and Uzbek enclaves on the territory of Kyrgyzstan; and conflicts that may be based on the claims of one or another state to part of the territory of a neighboring state (at the official or unofficial level).
The following organizations are called upon to combat existing threats and challenges both within the Central Asian states and in a broader format: – CSTO; – SCO; KSBR CA as part of the CSTO;
Based on analytical, scientific and research materials, the following main threats to security in Central Asia can be identified:
– War and instability in Afghanistan;
– Attempts to use the territory of the countries of the region as a transit for organizing and carrying out drug and weapons smuggling;
– The spread of the ideology of religious extremism and terrorism;
– The destructive impact of both former and some new interested geopolitical and criminal forces on regional stability, the state of interstate relations, attempts to incite interethnic and interstate tension, mistrust and conflicts;
– The unresolved issues related to the delimitation of interstate borders, the distribution and use of water resources;
– The socio-economic situation in the countries of the region, which requires joint measures aimed at overcoming backwardness, poverty, unemployment and ensuring sustainable development, as well as a single package of measures within the framework of international assistance.
Over the years of independence, the new Central Asian states have done a lot of work to form a complex, multi-level system with regional and international threats, the main elements of which today are the CSTO, SCO, and the EAEU. The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) plays a special role in strengthening trust. Organizations such as the UN and NATO, which cooperate to varying degrees with each of the countries in the region, play an important role.
Despite the pronounced geopolitical diversity and functional differences, the listed structures have a common goal of ensuring security in the region. The countries of Europe and Asia are interested in maintaining stability in the region, given its geopolitical and geo-economic significance. Most of the post-Soviet states of Central Asia participate in various associations, both economic and military-political in nature. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are the most active, so the question of their role in combating challenges and threats and developing integration processes in the region deserves special study.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a new region of world politics was formed – Central Asia. It has its own special structure of international relations, which, at the same time, is very dependent on the political and economic processes taking place in the regions neighboring Central Asia and in the world as a whole. One of the actors in the system of international relations of the Central Asian region is Tajikistan.
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Tajikistan, together with its neighboring states – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, is now located in the Central Asian region, which has important geopolitical significance. The large natural resources and communication capabilities of the Central Asian states turn them into an object of strategic interests of major powers seeking to take their role and place in the geopolitical field of the region.
Over the years of independence, Tajikistan, thanks to active and clearly structured foreign policy activities, has put forward a number of specific proposals for solving pressing global problems. Currently, many important initiatives and undertakings of global significance are associated with the Republic of Tajikistan, approved at the level of the UN and other international organizations.
The foreign policy of Tajikistan in the context of problems of ensuring regional security in Central Asia is still at the development stage. Nevertheless, during the period of independent development (from 1991 to the present), the republic has taken a quite worthy place in the system of international relations. Tajikistan has developed its own concept of foreign policy, developed a contractual and legal basis for international relations, established friendly and partnership relations not only with its closest neighbors, but also with a significant number of Western and Eastern states.
Tajikistan’s active participation in various integration processes aimed at creating a security space in the Central Asian region has become a vital condition for political stability, economic prosperity and for ensuring the national security of the country itself. The balanced and pragmatic approach of Tajikistan to cooperation within the CIS, CSTO, SCO and EAEU, supported by practical actions both at the level of integration associations and in bilateral relations with the member states of these organizations, have provided it with a guarantee of security and stability.
Tajikistan pursues a multi-vector foreign policy aimed at strengthening the country’s international authority as an important state in Central Asia. However, it gives unconditional priority to relations with Russia, which is considered an important ally and strategic partner. For Tajikistan, it is more promising to continue the course based on the development of integration processes in close cooperation with Russia, which will help strengthen Dushanbe’s position in regional and world politics and, in turn, will have a positive effect on the evolution in building not only the security space in Central Asia, but also post-Soviet integration in general.
Yusufi Farzona
Yusufi Farzona is a researcher in the Department of European Studies at the Institute for the Study of Asian and European Countries, National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.
