# Government Forces Retake Dushanbe (December 1992)

URL: https://allhistories.com/tajikistan/timeline/1992-government-forces-retake-dushanbe
Location: Dushanbe
Themes: Pamirs, Autonomy

In December 1992 forces loyal to the government retook Dushanbe. According to the account of the 201st division, the division and loyal Tajik forces attacked and seized the capital, then moved against Kofarnihon and Qurghonteppa, which fell quickly, scattering the main concentrations of Islamist and other rebel forces. The 201st Motor Rifle Division was a former Soviet formation whose conscripts, mostly Tajik, had deserted when fighting began, while Russian officers kept its equipment. Russia's president restored it under firm Russian control in September 1992, and the CIS later formed a collective peacekeeping force with it at the core. The offensive ended the first phase of the war. Opposition leaders and tens of thousands of civilians fled to Afghanistan and the Pamirs. Moscow's military role was thereafter central, and the division, later reorganised, remains the core of Russia's base in Tajikistan. Russian forces suffered 302 killed and 1,583 wounded in the whole war, according to the historian Krivosheev. At this point in the timeline (c. 1992), the Republic of Tajikistan was headed by Emomali Rahmonov, head of state as chairman of the Supreme Assembly (20 November 1992 – 16 November 1994), while Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullajanov (21 September 1992 – 18 December 1993) headed the government.

## Why it matters
It decided the first phase of the war and made Russian forces a lasting presence in Tajikistan.

Ruler at the Time: [Emomali Rahmonov (Chairman of the Supreme Assembly)](https://allhistories.com/tajikistan/rulers/emomali-rahmonov-chairman-of-the-supreme-assembly)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 201st Military Base](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/201st_Military_Base)
- [Wikipedia — Dushanbe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dushanbe)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Tajikistan: Independence](https://www.britannica.com/place/Tajikistan/Independence)