An article Uzbek President’s Tajik Visit Aims To Improve Tortured Relationship by Bruce Pannier that was posted on Radio Liberty’s website on March 8 notes that the ice is broken in relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the thaw is well under way, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is going to Tajikistan on March 9-10 as a sign a figurative spring has arrived.
Bruce Pannier, who writes the Qishloq Ovozi blog and appears regularly on the Majlis podcast for RFE/RL, says Mirziyoyev has made better relations with Central Asian neighbors a priority since he became Uzbekistan's leader in September 2016.
This was no small feat, as the late Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, had done much before his death in 2016 to sour ties with Uzbekistan's neighbors since all five Central Asian countries became independent in late 1991, according to the article.
Mirziyoyev visited Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan during 2017, but not Tajikistan. Inevitably, there was some speculation that there were issues between Tashkent and Dushanbe that needed to be worked out before the new Uzbek president traveled to meet with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. But perhaps it was simply that more time was needed for both countries to become accustomed to the idea that they could be friends.
The article notes that Uzbekistan's relations with Tajikistan have been described as bad or tense, but those terms could equally apply to Uzbekistan's relations with any of its neighbors at one point or another during Karimov's rule.
In fact, Uzbek-Tajik relations have reportedly been downright nasty. At times their governments have actively worked against each other's interests.
So, as Mirziyoyev and Rahmon usher in a new era in relations between their two countries, let's take a look at what many people hope will be left behind.
The author notes that the roots of the bad ties between the Uzbek and Tajik governments, or more accurately between Karimov and Rahmon, lie in the 1992-97 Tajik civil war.
Karimov strongly supported the Tajik government in its fight against opposition forces dominated by the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT).
Karimov did not want "Islamists" to come to power in Tajikistan, and he was not the only one who felt that way. Colonel Mahmoud Khudoiberdiev, commander of the Tajik Army's First Brigade, was also opposed to the Tajik opposition, specifically the IRPT, having any say in the governance of Tajikistan. The Tajik Peace According signed in Moscow in June 1997 gave the opposition 30 percent of the posts in government.
Karimov and Khudoiberdiev reportedly viewed this as a loss. Khudoiberdiev mobilized his unit in August 1997 and marched on the Tajik capital, but the mutinous colonel was thrown back. He and his troops disappeared, but not for long.
On November 4, 1998, Khudoiberdiev invaded northern Tajikistan. After four days, he was forced to retreat and again vanished. It seemed obvious that Khudoiberdiev had come from, and escaped back to, Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan planted land mines along the borders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that would continue to kill and maim innocent civilians for many years.
Khudoiberdiev's location is unknown, but Tajik officials said several times over the years they believed he was in Uzbekistan and as recently as November 2013 Tajik helicopters “strayed” over Uzbek territory, some believed looking for a training camp where Khudoiberdiev allegedly was present, according to the article.
Of all the people sitting in Uzbekistan's prisons for spying none are so numerous as those convicted of spying for Tajikistan.
Tajikistan has not sent as many to prison on charges of spying for Uzbekistan, but there have been some — such as Boymurad Anarov, an ethnic Uzbek convicted in January 2010 for giving Uzbekistan information about Tajikistan's Sangtuda-1 and Nurek hydropower facilities, according to the article.
And there are also the many criticisms Tashkent and Dushanbe have leveled against one another over the years.
Tajikistan has complained many times about Uzbekistan unilaterally demarcating the border and constructing watchtowers and border posts without informing Tajik authorities.
Uzbekistan has claimed Tajikistan's aluminum plant is polluting the air in Uzbekistan and bringing contaminated water downstream.
And then there is the perennial issue of water rights versus hydropower needs that has divided downstream Uzbekistan and upstream Tajikistan for years.
So if Mirziyoyev has been slow in going to Tajikistan, it could be because the idea of Tajik-Uzbek friendship required some time to set in, the author notes.
