Tajik president signs decree on spring conscription campaign

The draft affects able-bodied male citizens in the age bracket of 18 years old to 27 years old, who are not members of the armed forces reserve.

The same decree provides for the retirement from active duty of soldiers and sergeants whose service under conscription is over.

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MoHSPP) is tasked to provide specialists from medical facilities of Dushanbe to make medical examination of conscripts for the districts subordinate to the center.

Heads of cities and districts are responsible for organization of the conscription campaign, the website says.

According to the Ministry of Defense (MoD), every year, some 15,000-16,000 young Tajik men are drafted into the country’s armed forces.  The two-month-long effort seeking to enlist young men aged 18-27 for the two-year compulsory military service takes place twice a year, in the spring and in the autumn.

Some sources say more than 600,000 young men in Tajikistan are eligible for military service, but some 150,000 of them have received draft deferments or are exempted from the military service and some 100,000 other conscript-age young Tajiks are outside the country in search of a living.

Young Tajiks can avoid or postpone military service if they are ill, studying at university, an only son, or if they have two children.

Tajikistan’s armed forces consist of Ground Forces, Mobile Forces (paratroopers of the armed forces of Tajikistan), Air Force and Air Defense Force.