The Republic of Tajikistan is slowly traversing a significant tectonic shift. It strategically sits at the conduit that connects Central, Eastern and South Asia and is emerging as a potential theater among two asymmetric players in the region. While there are pronounced footprints of Beijing across the terrain, in the crannies there is brewing an extremist dissent against the draconian regime of President Emamoli Rahmon who exercises repressive tactics to uphold his authoritarian reign in Dushanbe. He is keen to deter undercurrents of militant Islamism in Tajikistan most notably the Islamic State of the Khorasan Province or more commonly noted as the ISIS-K who seek to alter the secular political fabric of Dushanbe....