Patterns of Global Terrorism 2001 - Tajikistan

Tajikistan, which strongly opposed the Taliban since it took power, expressed its support without reservations for Coalition actions in Afghanistan and continues to offer tangible assistance to operations in the area. Security along the Afghan border was reinforced after September 11. President Rahmonov and all sides of his government, including the opposition, offered full support at all levels in the fight against terrorism and invited US forces to use Tajik airbases for offensive operations against Afghanistan. More broadly, Tajikistan has made a commitment to cooperate with the United States on a range of related issues, including the proliferation of CBRN, illicit trafficking in weapons and drugs, and preventing the funding of terrorist activities.

Incidents of domestic terrorism continued in 2001, including armed clashes, murders of government officials, and hostage taking. The United States issued a travel warning for Tajikistan in May. Three senior Tajik officials were murdered during the year, including the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Culture. In April, an armed group seized several policemen in eastern Tajikistan attempting to negotiate the release of their group members from prison; three policemen were found dead several days later. In June, armed men at a roadblock kidnapped 15 persons, including a US citizen and two German nationals belonging to a German nongovernmental organization for three days. The kidnappers were lower-level former combatants in the Tajik civil war who were not included in the 1997 Peace Accord. After the hostages were released, due to pressure by the former opposition now serving in government, Government troops launched a military operation, which killed at least sixty of the combatants and the group's leader.

The Supreme Court in Tajikistan sentenced two Madesh students to death in May for bombing a Korean Protestant church in Dushanbe in October 2000; nine persons died, and more than 30 were injured in the attack. While the Church asked that these sentences be commuted, the students were executed in 2001. The Court also sentenced several members of the Islamic political group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, to prison terms. More than 100 members of the group were arrested in 2001.