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Tajik forces end military offensive
DUSHANBE: Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon called off a military offensive yesterday after rebel fighters agreed concessions to end a battle that had killed 42 people, security officials said. The cease-fire followed a campaign to capture former warlord Tolib Ayombekov in a remote mountain region next to Afghanistan, a show of strength by a government whose control over parts of the Central Asian state remains tenuous 15 years after a civil war.Twelve soldiers and 30 rebels were killed during fighting on Tuesday, officials said. Shops and markets reopened on Wednesday in Khorog, capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region and the closest town to the fighting deep in the Pamir mountains. The decision was taken to avoid further bloodshed, after the (rebel) field commanders promised to make concessions, a source in the presidential administration said. He declined to say what concessions had been promised. Security forces had earlier demanded the handover of four rebels, including Ayombekov, accused of murdering the regional head of the State Committee on National Security on Saturday. Maj.-Gen. Abdullo Nazarov was dragged from his car and beaten to death. Ayombekov evaded capture during the offensive. Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev traveled to the region for talks with rebel fighters and offered amnesty to those who turned in their weapons, a high-ranking official in the security services told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Tens of thousands of people died in Tajikistan during its 1992-97 civil war, in which Rakhmons secular government, backed by Moscow, fought a loosely-aligned opposition that included many Islamist fighters. Russia still has 6,000 troops stationed in Tajikistan, its largest military deployment abroad and a bulwark against the threat of Islamist violence spilling across the Afghan border after NATO pulls its troops out in 2014. After much wrangling over conditions, Russia and Tajikistan agreed in principle this month to extend Moscows lease on its military base for another 49 years. A military stand-off with the opposition would definitely weaken (Rakhmons) internal position, making him more pliant in his relations with Moscow, said Arkady Dubnov, a Moscow-based Central Asia analyst. He has been a virtual steamroller that has suppressed political opposition, but the growing clout of armed gangs will pose an increasing challenge as the troop pullout from Afghanistan gets nearer, he said. Its an open secret that he no longer controls large chunks of his own country. Gorno-Badakhshan, separated from Afghanistan by the raging Pyandzh river, is an autonomous region where the authority of central government is fragile. Most of the 250,000 population sided with the opposition during the civil war. Posted by: Steve White 2012-07-26 |
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