DUSHANBE, July 8, 2010, Asia-Plus – Tajik political scientist Rashid Ghani Abdullo considers that it is no mere chance that Tajikistan was the first among member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to send emergency aid to neighboring Kyrgyzstan.
“Almost twenty years have past since Tajikistan gained independence, however, the country’s economic and social wellbeing still strongly depends on regular receipt and shipment of cargo, first of all, through the single large and well-developed transport corridor that runs across Uzbek territory,” said the expert, “Unfortunately, this year, this corridor has been functioning unstably.”
Under such conditions, the possibility of transportation of cargo through Kyrgyzstan takes on special significance for Tajikistan. “Practically right after the rail problem arose in connection with Uzbekistan’s halting of freight cars bound for Tajikistan, cargo shipments were spontaneously redirected towards the Kyrgyz direction. However, after destabilization of the situation in Kyrgyzstan in April, this corridor cannot operate normally,” said Mr. Rashid Ghani Abdullo.
According to him, Tajikistan’s national interests dictate supporting any efforts of Kyrgyz authorities to stabilize the situation in their country.
“Tajikistan’s opportunities to provide such an aid were restrained by ambiguity of status of Kyrgyz new authorities. After the referendum of June27, the Kyrgyz authorities acquired their legitimacy and ad recognition of international community, and Tajikistan’s opportunities to provide aid to the Kyrgyz authorities improved. Tajik authorities did not fail to use that and provided military and technical assistance to Kyrgyzstan,” Rashid Ghani Abdullo noted.
As it had been reported earlier, Tajikistan sent an aid to Kyrgyzstan’s Armed Forces on July 6. The assistance, including food products, military uniform and bedding totaling 3 tons, was sent to the Kyrgyz city of Osh by military transport plane Antonov-26.
We will recall that President Emomali Rahmon on July 2 received the CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with President Rahmon, Mr. Bordyuzha said that Tajik president signed a CSTO agreement on providing emergency aid to the CSTO member nations, “in this case, to Kyrgyzstan.” According to him, the issue was previously discussed at a CSTO Security Council meeting in Moscow last month.
