Foreign Policy Dimensions of Tajikistan's Transportation Policy

Tajikistan's recent history, economic isolation, mountainous geography and poorly developed physical infrastructure make it one of the world's most remote and difficult to integrate economies. The disruption resulting from the civil war, including the damage to the highway system caused by military vehicles and lack of routine maintenance, the exodus of professional administrative personnel, the division of the country into autarkic regions under indirect control of former warlords, and the corrupting effects of the rapidly expanding narcotics trade ha ve led to a deterioration in the regional trade environment. The small size of domestic markets, the small service sector, and the country's unavoidable dependence on a small number of primary commodity exports, make increased trade a necessity for Tajikistan's economic recovery. A key element in Tajikistan's post-conflict foreign policy is the improvement of physical transportation infrastructure. This paper surveys Tajikistan's transportation policy with an emphasis on the eastern access road linking Tajikistan to the Persian Gulf via the Karakoram Highway