Tajik women hunger strike against market demolition, 2009
Tajikistan is a small country in Asia that borders Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and China with a population of approximately 8 million. Once a republic under the Soviet Union, the country experienced a civil war that lasted from 1992 to 1997, which damaged the country’s already weakening economy. Tajikistan currently has one of the lowest GDPs among the former Soviet republics, but has started to improve due to foreign aid.