According to the United Nations, "by mid-1993, in a country of under 6 million, an estimated 50,000 people, mostly civilians, had been killed, some 600,000 had been displaced internally, and an additional 60,000 had crossed the border into northern Afghanistan."
After a direct appeal by Uzbekistan president Islam Karimov, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali sent missions to the area for fact-finding and observation of the humanitarian situation.
The United Nations Security Council then began considering deployment of a peacekeeping mission to the area to investigate and report of ceasefire violations.
In July 1995, the opposition forces began to return to central Tajikistan from Afghanistan, and fierce clashes erupted thereafter until December 1996, when a general ceasefire was once again in place.
The military observers came from 15 foreign countries, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ghana, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria, Poland, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Uruguay.