Here are some pictures made during a 10-day election observation mission to Tajikistan in February 2005. The elections themselves were a farce (the OSCE statement read "failed to meet key international standards" - possibly the political understatement of the year), but the views of the mountains of this Central Asia country are spectacular.
 
 

Dushanbe, the capital, was built only last century and has few exciting attractions to offer..	.. unless you head to one of the many markets, full of astonishing sounds and smells.

The central mosque	The green market	Typical Tajik hospitality	A pharmacy in the city

In the country-side, streets lined with mulberry trees, used for silk-production,	a proud boy on his donkey,	and a cowgirl, Tajik-style.

The 16th century gates of Fortress Gissar, some 30km west of Dushanbe,	with a mosque and caravanserai used for stop-overs on the old silk-road.	The former Koran school today houses a small museum of ethnology

Exploring the mountain areas during wintertime is exceedingly difficult..	..but some sites are well worth visiting - here the 300m high dam at Nurek, 80km east of Dushanbe.

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