DUSHANBE (MNN); Five Chinese nationals have been killed and five others wounded in a series of cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Tajikistan over the past week, authorities in Dushanbe and the Chinese embassy confirmed on Monday.
Following the incidents, the Chinese embassy issued an urgent advisory, instructing Chinese workers and companies near the frontier to relocate immediately.
According to the embassy, Chinese citizens came under armed fire near the Afghan border on Sunday. Two days earlier, another attack involving explosive-dropping drones killed three Chinese workers, Tajik officials stated.
Tajikistan, a mountainous nation of around 11 million people, has long experienced strained relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban government. Officials previously warned of drug traffickers and illegal mining groups operating along the isolated border region. China, which shares a rugged border with Tajikistan, is among the country’s biggest investors.
Afghan authorities issued no fresh comment on Monday, though a statement last week blamed an unnamed group seeking to fuel instability, adding that Afghanistan was willing to cooperate with Tajik officials.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon convened a meeting with security chiefs to review border safety and ordered tougher preventive measures. His office condemned the attacks, calling them illegal and provocative, and stressed the need to ensure such incidents are not repeated.
Tajikistan, aligned closely with Russia and home to one of Moscow’s military bases, still bears scars from its 1990s civil war, during which Rahmon first rose to power. The country also shares cultural ties with Afghanistan, where millions of ethnic Tajiks reside and where Tajikistan has historically supported anti-Taliban elements.
