font-family:"Lucida Bright"">Tajikistan has been ignored by the world
community, even during the course of a bloody five-year civil war in the mid
1990s. But it has now become visible in the world arena. Against the
background of the current anti-terrorist operation, Western media have started
discovering that the post-Soviet Republic of Tajikistan provides a great deal
of insight into what has led to a globally significant tragedy. Now thrust
into geographic and strategic prominence by its lengthy border with
Afghanistan, Tajikistan is something of the epicenter of growing international
interest. Just over a month after Tajikistan celebrated the tenth anniversary
of its independence, on 9 September, it became an important strategic ground.

On January 7, nine US senators led by Democrat Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut
and Republican John McCain of Arizona arrived in Dushanbe. Prior to arriving
to Tajikistan, the senators visited Ankara, and Tashkent.

font-family:"Lucida Bright"">“We have come to familiarize ourselves
with the current situation, and to express gratitude to Tajikistan’s
authorities for rendering assistance while carrying out antiterrorist
operation in Afghanistan”, Senator McCain stated at a press conference after
meeting President Emomali Rakhmonov. “We have also listened to your
President’s ideas with regard to what should be undertaken in the region in
the long term”, McCain added.

Senator Lieberman said that the world and American foreign policy have changed
after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and emphasized that “we are
intending to reinforce our constructive partnership with Tajikistan in
geopolitical, economic and humanitarian respects”. The senators stressed
that cooperation with Tajikistan will continue and expand even after the
demise of the Taliban.

color:black">Answering questions of journalists, the Senators said that the
United States and their allies are not intending to carry out any military
operation in Pakistan in order to annihilate international criminals and
senior members of Al-Qaeda. 

color:black">On January 8, the Senators left Tajikistan to continue their weekly
tour. The next destinations were Pakistan, India and Oman. The visit of the US
politicians is a sign of a vivid interest to the problems of Tajikistan and
developments in Central Asian region. As a matter of fact, the
young sovereign state of Tajikistan was at risk to become a bridgehead for
international terrorism, and due to the current alterations is has become
possible to avert this. 

font-family:"Lucida Bright"">Well-known terrorists started their
‘careers’ on Tajikistan’s territory. In 1994, the Tajik Interior
Ministry's Special Rapid Reaction Brigade dislodged a gang of mercenaries
headed by the field commander Khattab, the Jordanian who later moved to
Chechnya. Besides, there have been numerous domestic field commanders, who
would likely belong to the category of “international terrorists”. 

font-family:"Lucida Bright"">Terrorism is a social phenomenon, which
accompanies every big conflict. Several generations of Soviet people were
absolutely confident that the Russian revolutionaries, who according to some
definitions could be termed terrorists, were doing noble actions for the sake
of their descendants’ future.

font-family:"Lucida Bright"">The formation of mass consciousness in
the Soviet Union was accompanied by the formation of positive images of
terrorists, which helped justify the means and goals of the regimes. Some
terrorists were being presented as national heroes. Writers wrote books about
them, filmmakers made movies, and painters created pictures. The strength of
Communist ideology supported this image. In a similar way, ideology is strong
in Islamic countries, especially the poor ones, today. Religion is not only
the “opium for people”; it is also a tool for governing masses. 

font-family:"Lucida Bright"">It would hence be wrong to consider
personalities like Hitler or Bin Laden as just maniacs. Whatever we call them,
they have ideological ground and support from people prone to a certain
ideology. Yet for the absolute majority of people, it is clear that there is
no war between Christians and Muslims: in reality, obscurantism declared war
against the civilized world. This has been illustrated in Tajikistan in the
years of the civil war. A colorful example is the mullahs, supposedly
spiritual leaders, who played the role of field commanders, carrying a machine
gun and practicing Islam simultaneously.

font-family:"Lucida Bright"">The information vacuum in Tajikistan can
bring about the most undesirable consequences, exerting negative influence on
social and political developments in the region. The most recent illustration
of this is the northern Sugd province of the country, which borders on the
Ferghana valley region of Uzbekistan (known for the fundamentalist moods of
its population.). Last year, hundreds of people in both Sugd province and the
Ferghana valley were arrested and charged with illegal activities, and
plotting to overthrow the secular government. The presence of the illegal
movement Hizb-ut-Tahrir was unexpected both in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan up to
quite recently. With the disappearance of the strong Soviet ideology, the
extremists are snatching all opportunities to fill the ideological vacuum.
This is facilitated in areas where the free media cannot operate, and where
there is a lack of secular education. The biggest mistake of the current
political regime is the absence of attention to the problems of the mass
media. 

font-family:"Lucida Bright"">In the late 1990s, due to efforts of UN
agencies, OSCE and other international organizations, it became possible to
avert escalation of the conflict in Tajikistan and to carry out parliamentary
and presidential elections. International experts say that Tajikistan’s experience
in establishing peace is unique. The warring factions are considered to have
found a common language and achieved a compromise fairly quickly. In reality,
a lot of efforts are needed to achieve complete stability in Tajikistan.

mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Alexei
Igushev