Many Tajiks view Kyrgyzstan as utterly unsafe.
Marshal Fahim, 45, the most powerful of Afghanistan's ethnic Tajik leaders, has been viewed as the principal rival within the government to Mr. Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun who owes his position as leader largely to American backing.
The half Tajik, half Pashtun Mr Abdullah viewed Mr Fahim as an incompetent and scheming rival - the two never got on - but Mr Abdullah now has everything to gain from the leadership vacuum that his death has created.
Muhammad Dawood Kalakani, an ethnic Tajik member of Parliament, expressed a view commonly held among non-Pashtun minority groups: "We don't want peace at the cost of losing the achievements of the last nine years in terms of human and women's rights, civil society, media and governance".
Dr Abdullah is of mixed Tajik and Pushtun descent but widely viewed as Tajik.
The pledge to return Mr. Karzai's security operations to Afghan forces was viewed as particularly important to the defense minister, Marshal Muhammad Fahim, an ethnic Tajik who fiercely guards his position of power in Kabul.
Teachers upload scanned teaching materials and textbooks, which students can download to view on tablets or print before class (the Tajik materials are available here).
The other two cover Rahmonov's views on (1) the U.S.-Tajikistan bilateral relationship and Tajik politics, and (2) Uzbekistan.
He attributes success to better campaigning in his strongholds and persuading Pushtun leaders to let women vote.Though Dr Abdullah is of mixed Tajik and Pushtun descent, many Tajiks, who are numerous in the north and west of the country, view him as one of their own.
The only credible threat to this centrist block might come from the possible creation of a jihadi party made up of former anti-Soviet guerrillas with conservative social views, bankrolled by Tajiks and headed by a sellable Pushtun.The post of president has been tailored for, and by, Mr Karzai.
