DUSHANBE, November 25, 2013, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan has fulfilled its autumn constipation By November 11, Tajikistan has reached 90.17 percent of the autumn conscription campaign target by November 25, a week ahead of schedule, Faridoun Mahmadaliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD), said.
The autumn conscription campaign is carried out from October 1 through November, and the draft affects able-bodied male citizens in the age bracket of 18 years old to 27 years old who are not members of the armed forces reserve.
According to the Ministry of Defense, every year, some 15,000-16,000 young Tajik men are drafted into the country’s armed forces. The two-month-long effort seeking to enlist young men aged 18-27 for the two-year compulsory military service takes place twice a year, in the spring and in the autumn.
Some sources say more than 600,000 young men in Tajikistan are eligible for military service, but some 150,000 of them have received draft deferments or are exempted from the military service and some 100,000 other conscript-age young Tajiks are outside the country in search of a living.
Young Tajiks can avoid or postpone military service if they are ill, studying at university, an only son, or if they have two children.
Tajikistan”s armed forces consist of ground Forces, Mobile Forces, Air Force and Air Defense Force. Unlike the other former Soviet states of Central Asia, Tajikistan did not form armed forces based upon former Soviet units on its territory. Instead, the Russian Ministry of Defense took control of the Dushanbe-based 201st Motor Rifle Division; actually control simply shifted from the former district headquarters in Tashkent, which was in now-independent Uzbekistan, to Moscow.
