Following a somewhat thrown together historical overview, based e. g. on Soviet popular literature like Pavel Luknickij’s Soviet Tajikistan (1954), and a partly rather distorted description of the momentous civil war in Tajikistan (1992 onwards), this article finally (p. 16 ff) appears to be a kind of publicity brochure for the Pamir Relief and Development Program of the Agha Khan Foundation. As laudable as this engagement of the Agha Khan Foundation might be, the engagement of the author to contribute to academic knowledge thereby does not get the attention it deserves.