Tajikistan Civil War - Research Paper Example

Education: Literacy (according to the Tajikistan Living Standards Survey for 2007)--97.4%. The Tajik education system has been struggling through a period of decline since independence, however, and some evidence suggests functional literacy is much lower.

Health (2010 est.): Life expectancy--62.29 years men; 68.52 years women. Infant mortality rate--41.03 deaths/1,000 live births. Workforce (2010): The official workforce is 2.1 million. The actual number of working-age citizens is closer to 4 million. As many as half of all working-age males, and an increasing number of females, seek jobs outside of the country, primarily in Russia. The Republic of Tajikistan gained its independence during the breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) on September 9, 1991, and soon fell into a civil war.

From 1992 to 1997 internal fighting ensued between old-guard regionally-based ruling elites and disenfranchised regions, democratic liberal reformists, and Islamists loosely organized in a United Tajik Opposition (UTO). Other combatants and armed bands that flourished in this civil chaos simply reflected the breakdown of central authority rather than loyalty to a political faction. The height of hostilities occurred between 1992 and 1993. By 1997, the predominantly Kulyabi-led Tajik Government and the UTO had negotiated a power-sharing peace accord and implemented it by 2000.

Once guaranteed 30% of government positions, former oppositionists have almost entirely been removed from government as President Rahmon has consolidated power. The last Russian border guards protecting Tajikistan's 1,344 km border with Afghanistan completed their withdrawal in July 2005. Russia maintains its military presence in Tajikistan with the basing of the Russian 201st Motorized Rifle Division that never left Tajikistan when it became independent. Most of these Russian-led forces, however, are local Tajik noncommissioned officers and soldiers.