Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed an agreement on March 13 that aims to put an end to tensions that have made their border the deadliest area in Central Asia for more than a decade.
Underscoring the significance of this breakthrough was Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon making his first state visit in nearly twelve years to the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek to sign the deal on the delimitation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
A Long-Standing Dispute
Marking the border in the mountainous, sparsely inhabited eastern section of the two countries’ border was not difficult, and by 2011, some 520 kilometers had been demarcated. Reaching a final agreement on the western 487 kilometers, located in the Ferghana Valley and more densely populated, however, was far more complicated due to roads and canals that passed through both countries’ territories.
Rahmon’s visit in May 2013 came a month after hundreds of residents of border communities clashed near the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai and Tajikistan’s Vorukh enclave. Such incidents were increasing, though at that time they were limited to fistfights, throwing sticks and stones, and vandalism of property, usually vehicles.
In May 2013, Rahmon and then Kyrgyz President, Almazbek Atambayev, discussed measures to ease tensions along the border, but along the frontier, the meeting of the two presidents in the Kyrgyz capital made little difference.
In January 2014, a Kyrgyz construction crew started work on a bypass road around the Tajikistan’s Vorukh enclave, and an argument broke out between border guards of the two countries. Insults led to an exchange of fire, during which Tajik border guards reportedly used grenade launchers and mortars.
Five Kyrgyz and two Tajik border guards were wounded in the fighting.
It was the first time weapons were used during border conflicts, but from that time on, disputes increasingly involved gunfire, increasing the number of casualties and sometimes resulting in deaths.
Both governments sent additional troops and military equipment to the border area, adding fuel to the fire.
On July 26, 2019, four days after another clash near the Vorukh enclave left one person dead and 27 injured, Rahmon met with then-Kyrgyz President Soronbai Jeenbekov in the Vorukh enclave. Again, there were promises of new steps to defuse tensions and hasten an agreement on border delimitation, but as had happened previously, it was not long before fights erupted, adding to the growing casualty list along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
From Bad to Worse
On April 28, 2021, Kyrgyz villagers spotted a group of Tajik citizens setting up a camera on a water intake station near the Kyrgyz village of Kok-Tash. An argument quickly led to large-scale clashes that spread along several sections of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. Armed forces from the two countries used heavy machine guns, mortars, and armored vehicles. Tajikistan even sent helicopter gunships to attack one area in Kyrgyzstan.
The fighting only lasted two days, but when it was over, 54 people were dead, hundreds were wounded, thousands were forced to flee the area, and there was damage to homes and other buildings.
That conflict marked the first time the militaries of two Central Asian states engaged in protracted battles.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov flew to Tajikistan in June 2021 to meet with President Rahmon. Both presidents vowed to work to prevent such a tragedy in the future, and once again, there was discussion of easing tensions and the need to reach an agreement on border demarcation.
Delegations from the two countries began meeting regularly to discuss border delimitation, but Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the two poorest countries in Central Asia, also increased their purchases of military equipment.
The head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, Kamchybek Tashiyev, who also led Kyrgyzstan’s border negotiations with Tajikistan, said in March 2023 that since the 2021 conflict, Kyrgyzstan had spent $1 billion on strengthening its armed forces.
In September 2022, the fiercest battles to date broke out between Kyrgyz and Tajik troops, and this time, the fighting was spread out along long sections of their border. Both sides used mortars and artillery, and toward the end of the four-day conflict, Kyrgyzstan sent some of its recently acquired Turkish military drones to attack areas in Tajikistan.
Homes and buildings that had just been built or repaired after the April 2021 conflict were destroyed.
At least 81 Tajik citizens and 63 Kyrgyz citizens were killed, hundreds were wounded, and nearly 140,000 Kyrgyz border residents needed to be temporarily evacuated from the area.
The carnage of 2021 and 2022 led both countries to make a vigorous push to resolve the border issue, and in December 2024, an agreement was reached, which Rahmon and Japarov signed on March 13 in Bishkek.
Peace At Last?
The importance of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border agreement cannot be overstated.
Neighboring Central Asian states watched in dismay as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan attacked each other in 2021 and 2022. The conflicts jeopardized efforts to build regional cooperation, which is especially vital now.
Central Asia faces many common challenges, including combatting the effects of climate change, opening trade corridors for these landlocked countries, and countering a growing threat from extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Khorasan Province, which has a strong presence in neighboring Afghanistan.
The Kyrgyz and Tajik parliaments must now ratify the border agreement. That is expected to be completed before Japarov and Rahmon meet again on March 31 for a summit with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, where the three leaders are expected to chart a course for cooperation and development in the Ferghana Valley, which their countries share.
The remaining obstacle is convincing residents in the border area that the deal that was just signed is fair and that the people living meters away on the other side of that border are no longer enemies.
