Bishkek, Dushanbe Won’t End Border Conflict or Expand It Because Both Find Its Current Level Useful, Khamroyev Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 29 – The border problems all Central Asian countries have with each other were created by the Soviets in the 1920s, but the continuation of these disputes is taking place because it servs the interests of the corrupt rulers in each who use such conflicts to distract attention of their populations and generate support for themselves, Bakhrom Khamroyev says. 

            If Bishkek and Dushanbe wanted to solve the border issue, they could do so easily as Kyrgyzstan did with China, the head of the Society of Central Asian Political Emigres, tells Baku’s Yenicag news agency, but they don’t have any such desire (yenicag.ru/yekspert-o-vozmozhnoy-tadzhiksko-kyrgyz/311068/).

            At the same time, Khamroyev argues, none of the Central Asian governments, including those in Bishkek and Dushanbe, has any interest in allowing such disputes to grow into major armed conflicts. Such wars could shatter their states and thus the regimes will seek to prevent such an evolution by engaging in talks about the borders.

            The émigré activist and analyst says that he would not exaggerate the role of outside actors in these border disputes because the chief drivers of them are the governments of these countries rather than anyone else. The danger is that one side will take an action that the other will misread.