Blackouts Plague Tajikistan as Energy Promises Fall Short

Tajik officials have backed off comments that the energy situation in the country is improving, admitting that electricity rationing is being introduced a month earlier than usual this year. Electricity rationing has turned into an annual routine in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic over the past three decades. It is usually introduced in late October or early November. But the Barqi Tojik state energy holding announced over the weekend that rationing will be introduced as of September 22 due to "the upcoming longer and more severe…