Ending Central Asia’s endless squabbles over eccentric borders

Drums were banged and trumpets blasted when emotional residents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan crossed the border between the two countries for the first time in four years. For a long time Central Asia’s most volatile frontier has played host to deadly clashes. But in mid-March Sadyr Japarov, Kyrgyzstan’s president, and Emomali Rahmon, his Tajik counterpart, signed a treaty that brings to a close a three-decade dispute over where exactly the border runs. The first people to cross it tearfully embraced relatives living on the other side. The two presidents also sealed their deal with hugs.