Every year, the recruitment of Tajik soldiers, young people of age to perform their compulsory two-year military service, is a real problem for the authorities. In addition to the obsolete and corrupt recruitment campaign, there is a growing reluctance among young men to serve their country, even if it means emigrating to avoid it.

“Deserting” military service means fleeing the bad treatment in the ranks of the army: hazing, deplorable sanitary conditions, violent recruitment, and bribery to be declared unfit. We analyse the structural problems of the Tajik army, itself to blame for its lack of manpower.

It usually starts in the first days of spring and autumn. Conscript soldiers are called to register with the offices of the authorities to undertake their military service, which is mandatory for men aged 18 to 27 in Tajikistan, and will last two years. According to official data for 2019, there are about 600.000 young men of conscription age, of whom 150.000 are unfit for service and 100.000 are out of the country, according to Tajik media outlet Asia-Plus. Each year, only 15.000 to 16.000 recruits are actually called up for the needs of Tajikistan’s armed forces.

But the process never goes as planned. On April 1, local media reported problems with the way the young men are recruited. Radio Ozodi, the Tajik service of the American media outlet Radio Free Europe, explains, for example, that in the Vakhsh region a random “lottery” was held to select those who were to go into the army. The provinces of Sughd, Khatlon and the regions of the Rasht Valley also report pressure on the parents of young people of military age.

A resident of the Khorog region was sentenced to a year in prison on April 1 for running away from his obligation to serve, the Central Asian media outlet Kokshetau reported. “Having received a summons from the military commissariat and repeated invitations from the relevant administrations, he deliberately evaded conscription for fixed-term military service,” the prosecutor’s office said.

Every year, such problems occur, causing a wave of panic among young Tajiks of military age. Recruitment campaigns are conducted quietly and often arbitrarily, and never treat all citizens equally, which has a serious impact on the country’s military forces.

Fear of hazing and poor conditions

The reluctance of Tajik citizens to go and serve in the army is based on the poor living conditions that await them, such as lack of food, problems with military uniforms, poor quality clothes from which it is difficult to choose a size. But the most serious problem repeatedly pointed out by NGOs, especially by the Tajik organisation No Torture, is the practice of hazing.

The NGO has documented 59 cases of torture against military personnel between 2014 and 2016. 11 of them succumbed to the injuries, according to an article by Radio Ozodi, and there are also significant numbers of suicides among conscripts during their service.

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The Tajik government itself said in a report sent to the UN Human Rights Committee that more than 100 soldiers were killed between 2019 and 2021, mainly due to hazing in the army, the report says.

Faced with violence in the ranks of the army, however, the Tajik state does not compensate the victims or their relatives. For example, in 2014, a 22-year-old soldier was mistreated by his comrades, leaving him disabled. His lawyer then demanded that the army pay about 278.000 somoni (about 23.000 euros), but less than one-fifth of that sum was received by the victim, Russian media outlet Sputnik reported.

Violent recruitment methods

The violent recruitment for Tajik military service culminates in the organisation of raids by the authorities, suddenly taking young men away to their place of service. Eurasianet confirms this, describing young citizens who have just left school being taken away by cars waiting for them. Cabar Asia reports that the cars in which the young men are crammed often have no signs of belonging to the military registration and enlistment office or other state institutions.

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The authorities sometimes go even further, asking the families of young people who have left for Russia to bring them back to Tajikistan to serve in the army, or face sanctions. Tajik migrants represent a numerous diaspora in Russia, reaching 2 million in 2021.

According to the Tajikistan Prosecutor General’s Office, cited by Radio Ozodi, in 2022 alone, 108 young men were prosecuted for evading military service. Radio Free Europe reports that, late last year, Tajikistan’s military call-up season reignited discontent following power cuts and mosque closures by local authorities to force families to let their sons enlist in the military.

Legal uncertainty and administrative corruption

The call to the army in Tajikistan highlights each year the problems that plague the Tajik Republic, namely corruption and inequality. Indeed, the authorities in charge of recruiting young men are suspected of demanding bribes to declare them unfit.

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The Cabar Asia article shows that it is people struggling against poverty who find themselves massively recruited into the Tajik army, unlike men from the elite who escape more easily. The author points out that: “If the conscription season were truly fair, i.e., if it included all young men without exception, the country’s elite would solve the problem in a matter of weeks. But too great a gap between the elite and young men from ordinary families only exacerbates the problem of poor communication and resentment.”

Numbers of military personnel in Tajikistan are the lowest in Central Asia

Among of the weak points of Tajikistan’s military are the deplorable conditions for pre-call-up and conscripts. The country seems to be paying a price for this, with the lowest number of personnel among Central Asian countries, according to the Global Fire power indicator. Indeed, in 2023, the number of military personnel was only 15,000, while its Kyrgyz neighbor, although less populated, posts a much higher number, with a total of 25,000.

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The more intense flaring-up of conflicts with Kyrgyzstan in recent years is also deterring more and more Tajik citizens from serving in the military, for fear of being mobilised to defend sensitive borders. Border clashes between the two countries have indeed become more frequent since 2021, due to the militarisation of the borders on both sides. In May 2021, a 19-year-old Tajik border guard was injured, and the latest clashes between the two countries in September 2022 were the deadliest so far, with more than 100 deaths on both sides.

Although Tajikistan is part of the regional military organisation of the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO). together with Armenia, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, this set-up has proved to be ineffective with the recent resumption of conflicts on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border. Finally, proximity to Afghanistan and the Islamic threat on Tajikistan’s borders heightens tensions, which does not increase the enthusiasm of citizens to join the army.

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Written by Emma Collet, editor for Novastan

Translated by Robert Willams from French