Tajikistan - The Clans

Forget the Hatfields and McCoys, here you have the Pamiris from the Gorno-Badakhshan, the Leninabaders from the north, Kulyabis from the south, the Kurgan-Tyube, Garmis from east, Afghan drug smugglers, Tajik rebels from across the border and doped up Russian soldiers supplementing their paychecks. Some warlords are happy just to knock off a profitable business like the aluminum smelter such as Kadyr Abdullayev did in Tursunzode (west of Dushanbe). To make matters worse, the nearby Russian commander and his 200 soldiers, angered at Abdullayev's men stealing weapons from his garrison and tired of feuding warlords, disobeyed the President and shot their way into the town and wrested control away from Abdullayev and his rival.

Some, like Bakhram Sadirov (based in Kalainav, 52 miles east of Dushanbe), just snatch up 23 people (UN workers monitoring the cease fire, a government minister sent to negotiate a settlement and journalists covering the event) to help them in various negotiations; in this case to release his brother who was kidnapped by another warlord allied to the government. In short the political situation in Tajikistan is like having every NHL hockey team playing on the ice at the same time . . . using rocket launchers.