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Tajikistan

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Tajikistan

DATE OF FORMATION: 1991

POPULATION: 6.3 million

DENSITY: 114 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: Tajik, Uzbek, Russian

RELIGIONS: Sunni Muslim 80%, Other 15%, Shi'a Muslim 5%

ETHNIC MIX: Tajik 62%, Uzbek 24%, Russian 8%, Other 4%, Tatar 1%, Kyrgyz 1%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: Somoni

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Tajikistan lies on the western slopes of the Pamirs in central Asia. Language and traditions are similar to those of Iran rather than those of its northern Turkic neighbors. Tajikistan decided on independence only when neighboring Soviet republics declared theirs in late 1991. Fighting between communist government forces and Islamist rebels, which erupted shortly afterward, has been contained since 1997 by a fragile peace agreement.