Think of Tajikistan as the youngster away from home for the first time. Gone are
the familial ties that provide security, money, even identity. Somewhat overwhelmed,
perhaps, the youngster embarks on a tenuous process of self-invention.
So it is with Tajikistan, a small mostly mountainous, landlocked country north of
Afghanistan, trying to invent itself in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union
that was its family. Like other former Soviet republics, Tajikistan has had its share of
problems since 1991: a devastating civil war and simmering ethnic and religious tensions,
industry slowed by lack of spare parts, agriculture (primarily cotton) hindered by lack of
fertilizer, a crumbling infrastructure, floods, and political uncertainty.
Also, there is a decided lack of foreign aid and investment. Enter Eshragh Motahar,
assistant professor of economics, who, at the invitation of the government of Tajikistan,
the U.N. Development Programme, and the World Bank this fall, conducted a month of
meetings and seminars with economists and government officials in Dushanbe, the capital of
Tajikistan. Also present were representatives from the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for
International Development, and other international bodies. Many of Motahar's meetings were
held in a large, austere government building, complete with relics of the Soviet era,
including a large altar where a bust of Lenin once stood. Motahar gave his talks in
English with a Russian translator.
“They are somewhat bewildered,” Motahar says of Tajikistan. “They need
to develop their own set of priorities. They're a bit passive in that they expect foreign
aid and investment to just flow in, and they assume it will be all to the good.”
Among his recommendations, Motahar told officials to set priorities and capitalize on
their assets — a good cotton export (10th largest in the world), aluminum processing, and
mining of gold, silver and uranium. He urged that they streamline the bureaucratic legacy
of the Soviet era and establish a single agency, a “one-stop action center,” for
foreign investors.
Motahar also advised caution, pointing out that foreign investment requires a large
investment by the host country, and that multinational corporations have shareholder
interests as their primary goal. In addition, he explained problems associated with
foreign aid. For example, Kenya had help from 18 countries in a large water project, but
very little coordination. The result: a system, using 18 technologies, that was impossible
to maintain.
Tajikistan's process of inventing a nation has been especially fascinating to Motahar,
who intends to incorporate his experience into his international economics course.
“Economics is not a lab science,” he says, “but this is as close as you can
get to experimentation.” Motahar, some of whose research focuses on “economies
in transition,” keeps tabs on the country through his contacts there, via e-mail, and
via Tajikistan's homepage on the Web. (http://www.soros.org/tajkstan.html)
And Motahar says the country of 6 million holds treasures for other social scientists
— anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists — who are interested in the
emergence of a nation and an independent people.