Talk:Farkhor Air Base

History

Was this an pre-existing military base (perhaps dating from the Soviet era), or was it built by India?--Pharos 19:15, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

• It seems I've answered my own question, but it still would be good to know more about the past history (and the current status, for that matter, as most of the published info is 'anticipatory', and predates the actual opening by the Indian military).--Pharos 21:26, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

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Can this be truly called "overseas," as there is no intervening body of saltwater? Joe

Not only are the two countries on the same continent, but they're only a short distance apart. This error looks particularly bad because it's been replicated in the Did You Know? section on the home page. I don't know what's the correct thing to do about errors there, though.

(Inserted 02:15 UTC, same day) I see someone's fixed that now. Good.)

As to this page, I've simply removed the "only overseas" part. But is the base in fact India's only something, like maybe their only external military base? If so, that should be put in instead.

--Anonymous, 00:00 UTC, 7 October 2005

Doesn't matter now, but the term overseas mean abroad in general and specifically beyond the seas. The etymology of the word meant in those days anything abroad was overseas (coming as it is in the English language any land beyond England - an island - was thus "overseas"). Just my take on this. Idleguy 08:12, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Photo?

I was wondering if the article needs the former pm's photo? User:prashanthns

i agree.. removing the photo --DuKot 05:32, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 17:55, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Please note that the coordinates in this article need fixing as: coordinates show area not described in the article.*

Coordinates were fixed independently in main article by User:195.30.37.40 on 22 Sept 2008 and are now correct. --Mmdoogie (talk) 05:23, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Disentangle Farkhor and Ayni

To the best of my understanding, the Farkhor Air Base is on the southern border of Tajikistan, "130 km south-east of Dushanbe". The Ayni Air Base is in the suburbs of Dushanbe, just 10 km west or south-west of the capital. If I am right, the two should be disentangled into separate articles. Can anyone help? --Zlerman (talk) 02:03, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

You are correct, they are two different bases. Here is an explanation of their relationship: "India's initiative to refurbish Ayni followed the earlier establishment of its first military "outpost" in Tajikistan at Farkhor on the Tajik-Afghan border. The 'quietly functional' Farkhor base was an extension of the field hospital India established in the late 1990's as part of its role in helping Afghanistan's Northern Alliance in the fight against the Taliban regime. Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, targeted by assassins, died in the Indian-run hospital two days before September 11, 2001." Askari Mark (Talk) 20:34, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Coordinate error

The coordinates need the following fixes:

• Write here

Current coordinates per google maps is 37° 28' 25.56", 69° 23' 9.43"

Nikhilgr (talk) 03:49, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Done. BrainMarble (talk) 01:43, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

This article is completely false

This article is completely false and is based solely on speculation of Indian media. Tajik officials have repeated denied existence of any Indian millitary base in Tajikistan. I will edit the article, please do not remove my edits.

Below is a link to an article in main Tajik news agency, AsiaPlus, with quotes form Tajik officals denying reports about Indian military bases in Tajikistan:

http://www.asiaplus.tj/articles/36/1049.html

Also, here is a link to article in a Western information and analytical resource on Eurasia, EurasiaNet, explaining why Indian attempts to establish military presence in Tajikistan have failed so far:

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/61503

Morover, India has never been a "major donor" of Tajikistan. Main donors of Tajikistan have been Russia, China, Iran, USA and EU:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ti.html#Economy

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Tajikistan.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Tajikistan#Foreign_economic_relations —Preceding unsigned comment added by Behruzhimo (talk • contribs) 06:59, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

There is no Indian air base in Tajikistan, and has never been one, since Russia wouldn't allow it...

(copied from Talk:List of countries with overseas military bases)

I made a quick search on the subject to see what I could find, and found that there's been lots of speculations, hopes and plans, but there's still no operating Indian Air Force base in Tajikistan. And the main reason for that is that Russia won't allow it. For recent sources see Russia Beyond: "All these years the Indians have run into the Russian wall as Moscow has been unrelenting in its stand that it doesn’t want foreign powers to deploy fighter aircraft in its backyard and a former territory. The Russians have thus far steadfastly refused to grant this favour to its age-old strategic partner – India"; Mail Online India: "India refurbished the base in 2007 but could not base fighters and helicopters there because of Russian pressure"; The Diplomat: "There are no reports of Indian combat aircraft having ever been stationed at the base.” India forked out millions renovating the base at Ayni, only to be blocked from moving in by the Russians". Or to sum things up: there is no Indian air base in Tajikistan, has never been any, and most probably won't be any either.- Tom | Thomas.W ^talk 21:30, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

• @Thomas.W: I tried searching in vain for credible sources regarding this presence, but I too was unable to find anything of much substance other than rumour mills, let alone an Indian "squadron" stationed there. The source you have linked to indeed adds quite a lot of clarity to this otherwise little-known base. I would find it pertinent to mention the following which doesn't allude to anything more than a "military hospital": During the late 1990s and early 2000s, India operated a military hospital at the Farkhor air base, near the Afghan border, providing care to Northern Alliance fighters. In 2002, India reportedly flew cargo out of Farkhor, with Russian permission, but there never was any evidence — aside from rumors — of an Indian air force presence. When NATO established the ISAF mission, India closed the hospital at Farkhor. There’s not much there anymore. Clearly, in view of this and the excerpts above, there is no conclusive evidence of a presence. Given the content was reinstated without explanation in 2019, I concur restoring the last proper version and not reinstating the material on the basis of lack of evidence. Mar4d (talk) 13:30, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

No evidence of Soviet use

Dear Mztourist I have removed the category about being a former Soviet military air base as I have seen the questions dating back to 2005 at the top of this page saying no-one could find evidence of Soviet use; checked www.ww2.dk/new/ which appears to show that there were only Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiments of the PVO in Tajikistan; and checked the Russian version of the article which only starts from 2005. Buckshot06 (talk) 00:14, 14 October 2023 (UTC)