This study explores the causes and consequences of the 1970-1971 forced migration of the Yaghnobi people, who were removed from their mountain homeland in the Tajik SSR and made to settle in the lowlands of Zafarabod. Political causes of this event included the drive to eliminate urban-rural differences inherent in the ideology of developed socialism, and national security concerns may also have played a role. Economic factors leading to the forced migration of the Yaghnobis were the need for cotton farmers following a contemporary increase in cotton quotas in the Tajik SSR and the lack of economic surplus derived from Yaghnob Valley. Propaganda campaigns surrounding the forced migration are discussed, as are the disastrous outcomes of the operation, which included high morbidity and mortality among the Yaghnobi people, disruption of religious practice, and cultural discontinuity.