- Tajik forces killed three suspected militants from Afghanistan.
- The Taliban say they are investigating jointly with Tajikistan.
- Kabul warns against attempts to damage bilateral relations.
Afghan Taliban authorities said Saturday they were working with neighboring Tajikistan to investigate a border clash earlier this week that killed five people, including two Tajik guards.
Tajikistan announced Thursday that three members of a “terrorist” group had “illegally” entered this Central Asian country through the province of Khatlon, which borders Afghanistan.
Tajik security forces killed the trio, but two border guards also died in the clash, the Tajik national security committee said.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Saturday that “we have opened serious investigations into the recent ‘incidents’ on Tajik soil.
“I spoke to the foreign minister of Tajikistan and we are working together to prevent such incidents,” he said at an event in Kabul.
“We fear that certain malicious circles want to destroy relations between the two neighboring countries,” added the minister, without further details.
Tajikistan shares a mountainous border of around 1,350 kilometers (839 miles) with Afghanistan and has tense relations with the Taliban authorities in Kabul, who returned to power in 2021.
Unlike other Central Asian leaders, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, in power since 1992, has criticized the Taliban and urged them to respect the rights of Tajiks in Afghanistan.
At least five Chinese nationals were killed and several injured in two separate attacks along the border with Afghanistan in late November and early December, according to Tajik authorities.
According to a UN report from December, a militant group, Jamaat Ansarullah, “has fighters spread across different regions of Afghanistan” with the primary objective “of destabilizing the situation in Tajikistan.”
Dushanbe is also concerned about the presence in Afghanistan of Daesh members in Khorasan.
