Tajikistan Declares Independence

Date: September 9, 1991 • Location: Karakenja, Tajikistan

Tajikistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.

Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe, its capital, is its largest and most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east; it is narrowly separated from Pakistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. Its total population exceeds 11 million.