The United Nations said Tuesday the Tajikistan Office of Peace-building (UNTOP) has completed its mission demonstrating the country’s stability and capability of taking part in UN peacekeeping operations.

Vladimir Sotirov, the UN secretary general’s representative in Tajikistan, said UNTOP has fulfilled its primary mission - to improve Tajikistan’s image as a source of stability in Central Asia and ensure its participation in UN peacekeeping operations.

Tajik Foreign Minister Khamrokhon Zarifi, on behalf of President Emomali Rakhmon, thanked all states that sent officers to the UNTOP, contributing to the mission’s success.

"The UN political mission has done a great job on post-conflict peace building and consolidating society," he said.

Tajikistan was admitted to the UN in March 1992. In Early August 1992, a civil war broke out in the country. Uzbek President Islam Karimov asked the UN Security Council to assist in settling the conflict.

The UNTOP was established in June, 2000 with the support of the UN Security Council following the withdrawal of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT).

The UN Secretary-General proposed setting up a United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Tajikistan, headed by a Representative of the Secretary-General (RSG), in May 2000 to help prevent any renewal of conflict in the country.

The President of the UN Security Council recognized in May 2000 that the continued support of the international community in the post-conflict phase would be crucial in allowing Tajikistan to sustain and build on the achievements of the peace process, and in helping it to lay a durable foundation to improve life for the general population.