Kyrgyz Islamists in Jalabat, in the north, such as Dulmurat Ozorov, claim that several hundred jihadists of the Uzbekistan Islamic Movement have crossed the treacherous Pamir range, setting up camps in the mountains surrounding the heavily populous Fergana Valley. Yet the proof seems to vanish when you press closer. Diplomats suggest that many of them are ghouls conjured up to grab EU money and the blessing that comes from being called America's partner. 

The Tajiks are unnervingly friendly. They take the Islamic injunction of hospitality with grave seriousness. Tourists are thrilled to be welcomed to break bread with impoverished peasants. The hungry often sacrifice their only cow for a backpacker with a camera, and the regime has liberally welcomed boots and bases on its soil. The Indians have a military installation. The Russians have several. The French have an airstrip. The Chinese and the Iranians are building roads through the mountains. General David Petraeus is a regular guest. 

But late at night, the Tajiks slowly explain how none of this makes them feel secure. China's rise is turning sinister and as a global hi-tech culture emerges, they feel they are living in somebody else's world. 

In a valley of penury, 65km from Dushanbe, they have started to see monsters. Romit Valley curves towards the mountains, sprinkled with medieval hamlets and third-world townlets. They are not frightened of the mujahideen but they are scared of the Yeti. 

Can you spot him? The Romit Valley where villagers claim to have encountered the Yeti

The Tajik intellectual Mullojanov takes this matter seriously. "I have heard such rumours of a Yeti, or Khull as it is known in Farsi, since my childhood. There were even several expeditions dispatched by the Soviets to find it, including ones organised by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. There were many sighting by locals and Soviet soldiers, but never any actual proof. It is theoretically possible it could be a relic population of Neanderthals, outcasts, hermits or some unknown mountain monkey. Sightings of the Yeti rose dramatically during the civil war. People started shooting at him."

I went in search of the Yeti in rustic Tajikistan. 

My guide Surob dreams of supermarkets, wishing for a future where he is the head of a Tajik-style Tesco. He knows Romit Valley like the back of his hand. We begin the hunt after lunch. As Surob accelerates out of Dushanbe in a "borrowed" car, he breaks into a rapid running commentary in imperfect English made up of American slang off the TV: "Now we go eastside, find the mens who will tell us about Yeti."