Branches: Army, Navy (includes Marines), Air Force, Coastal Patrol and
Defense Command, Armed Forces Reserve Command, Military Police Command
Manpower availability: males age 15-49 6,293,884; males fit for
military service 4,863,014; males reach military age (19) annually
201,191 (1995 est.)
Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $9.8 billion, 3.4% of
GDP (FY94/95); $9.77 billion proposed for FY95/96 budget
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TAJIKISTAN
Note—Tajikistan has experienced three changes of government since it gained independence in September 1991. The current president, Emomali RAKHMONOV, was elected to the presidency in November 1994, yet has been in power since 1992. The country is suffering through its third year of a civil war, with no clear end in sight. Underlying the conflict are deeply-rooted regional and clan-based animosities that pit a government consisting of people primarily from the Kulob (Kulyab), Khujand (Leninabad), and Hisor (Hissar) regions against a secular and Islamic-led opposition from the Gharm, Gorno-Badakhshan, and Qurghonteppa (Kurgan-Tyube) regions. Government and opposition representatives have held periodic rounds of UN-mediated peace talks and agreed in September 1994 to a cease-fire. Russian-led peacekeeping troops are deployed throughout the country, and Russian border guards are stationed along the Tajik-Afghan border.
@Tajikistan:Geography
Location: Central Asia, west of China
Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States - Central Asian
States
Area:
total area: 143,100 sq km
land area: 142,700 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Wisconsin