PAMIR-SHKHOOS-THE WORLD

The Pamir is one of the highest mountain ranges on earth -- the point where Central Asia and Afghanistan rise to meet China and Pakistan among a mass of peaks and glaciers. The Russians struggled their way up the Pamir in Czarist times, needing a watchtower above Asia, and have been there ever since. Now, the first officers have stepped down at the Tajik-Afghan border post of Ishkashim, by agreement with both governments. It's part of a staged withdrawal of all Russian border forces from Tajikistan due to be complete next year.
Some Tajiks are delighted to take charge of their own frontiers at last, but others are disconcerted -- they find it hard to image the Pamir without the Russian flag, and they worry that local bandits will flourish, especially heroin smugglers doing cross-border trade with Afghanistan. Many Russians are also unhappy -- they feel they're being pushed out of a land they see as their backyard, and losing a vantage point they've held for generations.