Hal Culbertson
Associate Director

The victories of peace often go unheralded; Tajikistan provides a case in point.

After Tajikistan became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, civil war broke out between militias from different regions of the country. The war pitted the hard-line, post-communist government against a coalition that included self-declared democratic and Islamic groups and Islamic fundamentalists. Some 1.2 million people became refugees or internally displaced persons as a result of the fighting.

Under United Nations auspices, the government and the opposition engaged in several rounds of talks that ultimately led to the signing of a peace agreement in 1997. While the peace has been fragile, most refugees and displaced persons have safely returned, a remarkable achievement relative to other contemporary conflicts.

The UN recently highlighted Tajikistan's emergence from civil war as one of the "Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About." However, the peace agreement received almost no international media coverage at the time. Central Asia was not as prominent on the international agenda as it is today, and the world's attention was riveted on the war in the Balkans. Likewise, reconstruction efforts, which have been modestly successful, have attracted little media or scholarly notice outside Tajikistan.

To foster dialogue and reflection on these issues, eight universities from throughout the country have banded together to develop a course on peace and conflict studies. It will be a required course for all university students. Kroc Institute Professor of International Peacebuilding John Paul Lederach has been a leader in this effort, which will culminate with the publication of a conflict and peacebuilding textbook in the Tajik language. Kroc faculty members Lederach, Scott Appleby, Larissa Fast, and Martha Merritt are contributing chapters to the textbook, as are Tajik scholars from diverse disciplines and regions.

Incremental steps toward peace like this do not often make headlines. Nonetheless, as the international community looks for models of peacebuilding in the wake of civil conflict, it would do well to consider the experiences of Tajikistan.

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Home > Publications > Peace Colloquy > Issue 7, Spring 2005