Dushanbe – Kulma (Chinese border), Kurgan-Tube – Nizhny Pyanj (Afghan border) highways and construction of tunnels under the mountain passes of Anzob, Shakhristan, Shar-Shar and Chormazak. A number of educational facilities are based in Dushanbe: Dushanbe is twinned with: Dushanbe Dushanbe (, ) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in the Tajik language. It was named this way because it grew from a village that originally had a popular market on Mondays. , Dushanbe had a population of 802,700. Historically a small village, Dushanbe was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in
Dushanbe Central Asian capitals, with an average annual rainfall over as moist air is funnelled by the surrounding valley during the winter and spring. Winters are not as cold as further north owing to the shielding of the city by mountains from extremely cold air from Siberia. January 2008 was particularly cold, and the temperature dropped to . Dushanbe is divided into the following districts: The population of Dushanbe: Tajik Air has its head office on the grounds of Dushanbe Airport in Dushanbe. Somon Air has its head office in Dushanbe. The city is served by Dushanbe International Airport which as