Uzbekistan Squeezes Shut Remote Tajik Valley

It's no secret Tajikistan is up a creek. 

By closing its border and forcing a remote Tajik valley into isolation for the winter ahead, Uzbekistan is showing it will spare no effort in its protracted battle of wills with Dushanbe.

The Zarafshan Valley is accessible from the rest of Tajikistan only in the warmer months, when snow does not close the road. In winter, residents depend on Uzbekistan for access to the outside world. Previously, according to a bilateral agreement, residents of the valley were allowed to enter Uzbekistan for five days without a visa, Ferghana.ru reports. The border is now shut.

Uzbek authorities told Dushanbe that they have shut the only post connecting Zarafshan with Uzbekistan's Samarkand Province and have not provided a reason, Tajik MFA officials say. The area is home to some 121,000 people, according to official statistics from 2007. Tashkent has refused EurasiaNet.org's request for comment.

This latest squeeze is unsurprising, given the rapidly deteriorating relations between the two countries, mostly over Tajikistan’s plans to construct a giant hydropower dam at Rogun. Uzbekistan is worried the upstream plant will cut water supplies to its intensive agricultural sector. 

Meanwhile, Tashkent is lashing back at a year of complaints from Dushanbe that it is holding up rail freight en route to the remote country. Since last December, Tajikistan has said Uzbekistan is delaying cargo passing through Uzbek territory because it wishes to prevent construction of the Rogun dam. On November 1, however, Uzbek officials said train traffic is actually increasing and thus Tajik claims are “false and unfounded.” 

Expect Tashkent to turn up the heat -- and turn down the gas supplies -- as Dushanbe faces another winter alone.