KEY POINTS
- Tajik forces killed three armed terrorists after they infiltrated from Afghanistan.
- The clash occurred in Tajikistan’s Khatlon region near the Afghan border.
- Two Tajik border officers were killed during the exchange of fire.
- Tajikistan said this was the third cross-border attack from Afghanistan in a month
- Dushanbe sought apology from the Afghan Taliban for failing to ensure border security.
- Pakistan and China have also raised concerns over terrorist safe havens operating from Afghanistan.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan: Tajikistan’s security forces killed three armed terrorists who crossed into the Central Asian country from Afghanistan and refused to surrender, officials said, in the latest in a series of cross-border terrorist attacks.
Following the attack, Tajikistan has issued a warning to the Afghan Taliban regime and commissioned four new border posts.
In a statement, the Press Centre of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security said the incident began late on December 23 in the Shamsiddin Shohin district of the southwestern Khatlon region, close to the Afghan border.
The statement said the terrorists crossed illegally from Afghanistan and were later located by Tajik border guards.
“They intended to carry out an armed attack on one of the border outposts of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan,” it said.
Armed clash at Afghan border
Tajik forces ordered the group of terrorists to lay down their weapons, but they refused and opened fire, officials said.
“As a result of the combat operation, all three terrorists were neutralised,” the statement added.
Two Tajik border officers were killed during the exchange of fire, according to the authorities.
State news agency Khovar, citing the security statement, reported that the terrorists were located on Wednesday after crossing into the village of Kavo in Shamsiddin Shohin district a day earlier.
Security forces said they recovered a large cache of weapons and equipment from the scene after killing the terrorists.
The seized weapons included an M-16 rifle, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, three foreign-made pistols fitted with suppressors, 10 hand grenades, a night-vision device, explosives and other military equipment.
Tajikistan seeks Afghan Taliban apology
Tajik officials said the clash marked the third armed attack or illegal border crossing from Afghanistan into Tajikistan in the past month.
“These facts demonstrate serious and repeated irresponsibility and non-commitment in fulfilling international obligations and consistent promises to ensure security and stability on the Tajik-Afghan border,” the statement said, referring to Afghanistan’s Taliban regime.
Tajikistan said it expected the Afghan Taliban regime to apologise and to take “effective additional measures” to prevent further incidents.
Afghanistan’s Taliban regime has not commented on the incident so far.
Tajikistan commissions new border posts
After a surge in cross-border terrorist attacks originating from Afghanistan, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon visited the Ministry of Defense and officially commissioned four new border posts along the Tajikistan–Afghanistan frontier.
According to official sources, cited by Tajik media, the newly inaugurated border posts are part of Tajikistan’s broader efforts to strengthen border security and counter growing threats posed by terrorist infiltration and illegal crossings from Afghan territory.
President Rahmon reviewed security arrangements during his visit and emphasised the importance of enhanced vigilance, operational readiness, and coordination among security forces to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The move comes as Tajik authorities report an increase in armed incidents and attempted infiltrations along the Afghan border, heightening regional security concerns.
Tajikistan shares a long and sensitive border with Afghanistan, and the government has repeatedly expressed concerns over the spillover of militancy and instability from across the border.
Regional security concerns
Earlier this month, Tajikistan said five people were killed and five others wounded in two cross-border terrorist attacks launched from Afghanistan.
In a separate incident weeks earlier, Tajik authorities and China’s embassy said five Chinese nationals were killed and five others injured in armed and drone attacks originating from Afghan territory.
Following those attacks, China’s embassy in Dushanbe advised Chinese companies and citizens to urgently evacuate border areas.
On Wednesday, President Emomali Rahmon commissioned four new border outposts and a tank training range near the Afghan border, citing growing security threats.
Pakistan’s warns of terrorist safe havens in Afghanistan
The developments come amid broader regional concerns over militancy linked to Afghanistan.
Pakistan has repeatedly warned of terrorist safe havens across the border since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said earlier this month that nearly 1,200 people had been killed this year in terrorist attacks carried out by terrorist groups based in Afghanistan.
Islamabad has called on the international community to press the Afghan Taliban regime to prevent their territory from being used for cross-border terror attacks.
