Travel Warning: Tajikistan

August 30, 2000

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer all travel to Tajikistan. Due to threats to Americans and American interests worldwide, instability in Tajikistan, and the limited ability to secure the safety of embassy personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe in their current facility, the Department of State suspended Embassy operations there and temporarily relocated all American diplomatic personnel to Almaty, Kazakhstan, in September 1998. Although the political climate has improved with the United Nations-brokered peace process between the Government and opposition and with peaceful elections in 1999 and 2000, the situation remains unpredictable. Recent fighting on the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan-Uzbekistan borders has included hostage taking incidents in neighboring Kyrgyzstan directly targeted against foreign citizens, including one incident involving American citizens.

The "suspended operations" status of the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe has been lifted, with U.S. Embassy American personnel currently resident at the U.S. Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan traveling periodically to Tajikistan. Consular services for Tajikistan are handled in coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Almaty and emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Tajikistan may be limited or unavailable. American citizens resident in Tajikistan are urged to consider their personal security and safety in view of this warning.