PHOTO ESSAY: Tajikistan's 35 Years of Independence — Peace and Persistence in a Post-Soviet Nation
KHUJAND, Tajikistan (AP) — The roosters haven’t yet stopped crowing when the Panjshanbe Bazaar begins to hum. It’s 5:30 a.m. and trucks are already pulling in, unloading crates of cabbage and carrots. Pigeons gather in the courtyard of the neighboring mosque, and overhead, a familiar face looms above the produce stalls: President Emomali Rahmon, his stern gaze framed by thick brows, staring down from a banner that has become as routine as the morning call to prayer.
Rahmon has held power since 1992, just months after Tajikistan emerged from the collapsing Soviet Union. What followed was not stability but a five-year civil war that pitted a Russian-backed government against an opposition of democratic reformers and Islamists. The conflict killed tens of thousands and devastated what was already the poorest of the 15 Soviet republics. Khujand, then known as Leninabad, was a stronghold for government forces.
Now, as the country prepares to celebrate its 35th anniversary of independence, the northern region around Khujand is calm. Remittances from Tajiks working in Russia prop up the economy, and portraits of Rahmon are everywhere — in schools, hotels, restaurants, even at the municipal swimming pool, where his oversized face hangs over swimmers and faded socialist-era murals.
Sundays at the bazaar mean the weekly animal market is in full swing. Parakeets chirp, rabbits huddle in cages, and children watch cockfights in the dusty parking lot while their fathers haggle over livestock. The scene feels timeless, but the signs of transition are subtle. Shoppers use smartphones alongside Soviet-era cash registers. The script on signs is Cyrillic, but Islamic patterns decorate the awnings.
The Soviet past is never far away. A statue of Vladimir Lenin once stood in the center of Khujand; in 2011 it was moved to the outskirts, where it now stands between a muddy field and a gravel road — a relic rendered almost anonymous. Yet Tajikistan, like other Central Asian states, is cautiously forging a new identity. Rudaki, a 9th-century poet revered as a national hero, is quoted on banners at schools. One such banner outside a local school reads: “Whoever has not learned from the passing of time will also not learn from any teacher.”
The government reports that Tajikistan received 1.8 million tourists in 2025, with more than 91% arriving from other former Soviet countries. While the number has grown year over year, visitors from English-speaking nations remain a rarity. Bakers at the bazaar, astonished to meet an American reporter, eagerly offered samples of their 3-somoni non bread — about 32 cents for a round loaf that tastes of tradition and warmth.
At a school near the bazaar, girls in neatly pressed uniforms polished the facade ahead of a visit from a district official. The building was adorned with a banner celebrating the 34th year of independence — updated now for the 35th — and Rudaki’s words. The quiet ceremony of daily life goes on, measured in bread, banners, and the steady gaze of a president who has outlasted the Soviet Union itself.
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This documentary photo story was curated by AP photo editors.