Tajikistan - The Russians

The Russians must have forgotten their history lessons and decided that Tajikistan is a lot easier to defend as a border than Afghanistan. (The first time the Russians came to Tajikistan in 1717, their entire army was massacred.) Maybe they didn't notice the mountains, nasty weather, hardened fighters and silly puppet government make for deadly politicians. The Russians spend about 3 billion rubles a year to keep 50 border posts open along a 900 km border with Afghanistan. The 25,000 troops include a number of Afghan veterans including OMON and Spetznatz commandos. The same folks who showed the Afghans how to get drugs into Europe without using camels. The Russians have about 200 T-72 battle tanks, 420 hard shell combat vehicles and artillery against a third as many rebels using cheap running shoes and beat up AKs. Considering the Russian draftees are offered $60 a month and three year contracts, it is not surprising that they are having a hard time finding grenade fodder to man the frozen border with Afghanistan. Local boys who volunteer can serve for only 6 months. If you have combat experience, you can be a contract soldier and serve 18 months for a lot more money. It is assumed that many Afghan vets (all the way to General level) actually choose Tajikistan because they can supplement their income with drug deals. There are about 150 contacts a year with rebels with a third ending up in firefights. The kill ratio is about 10 to 1 for the Russians with much of the activity occurring along the Pyandzh River at night. The towns of Pyandzh and the Kulyab region are the hottest.

When not selling weapons to Massoud the border guards like to shoot the rare Marco Polo sheep for food. (It'll cost you $20,000 for a hunting license if you want to bag one.)