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Thanks. I seem to remember than when the USSR fell and troops were withdrawn from the newly independent Central Asian states, Russia left 20,000 troops behind in Tajikistan. I haven't followed the reductions since then.

I'm trying to remember where we set up shop in the weeks after 9/11. I think Tajikistan and Kirgizstan were basing locations. They may be following in our footsteps to a degree. The forty days of mourning are over. There is work to be done.

Pulled this a few days ago off another thread . . .

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/869687.cms

IAF's base in Tajikistan will be ready by '04
MAHENDRA VED

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2004 10:54:21 PM ]

(snip)

NEW DELHI: India's first-ever military outpost on foreign soil, located at Farkhor, about 10 km outside Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, is ready to become operational by this year-end, without any fanfare.

Reliable sources in the government say the Indian Air Force (IAF) is pressing for an early decision on a suitable aircraft to be stationed at this military base. Operational requirements stipulate at least two squadrons to be stationed there.

Logically, experts say, IAF could opt for MiG-29s that are already in its inventory and can be flown in and out of the region.

Although Indian officials are not willing to discuss the importance of the Farkhor military base, foreign analysts have noted that the acquisition of the military base in Tajikistan would certainly give the Indian armed forces a longer strategic reach.

Defence sources describe it as a "modern" military base where 95 per cent of the infrastructure is in place. The runway, the blast pans and the control tower are ready.

The Army is also into this exercise, having operated a military hospital there, basically to nurse the Northern Alliance soldiers who fought the Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan between 1997 and 2001.

It was to this hospital that Ahmed Shah Massoud, the last of the anti-Taliban resistance leader, was brought dead after Al-Qaida's emissaries, posing as TV journalists, killed him in an explosion three years ago.