- Tajik forces killed three alleged militants crossing from Afghanistan.
- The Taliban say they are jointly investigating with Tajikistan.
- Kabul warns of attempts to damage bilateral ties.
Afghanistan’s 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 crossed into the Central Asian country “illegally” at Khatlon province, 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 started serious investigations into the latest ‘incidents’ on Tajik soil.
“I spoke with Tajikistan’s foreign minister and we are working together to prevent such incidents,” he told an event in Kabul.
“We are concerned that some malicious circles want to destroy relations between the two neighboring countries,” the minister added without elaborating.
Tajikistan shares a mountainous border of about 1,350 kilometers (839 miles) with Afghanistan and has had a tense relationship with Kabul’s Taliban authorities, which returned to power in 2021.
Unlike other Central Asian leaders, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, who has been in power since 1992, has criticized the Taliban and called on them to respect the rights of ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan.
At least five Chinese nationals were killed and several wounded in two separate attacks along the border with Afghanistan in late November and early December, according to Tajik authorities.
According to a UN report in December, a militant group, Jamaat Ansarullah, has “fighters spread across different regions of Afghanistan” with a primary goal “to destabilize the situation in Tajikistan.”
Dushanbe is also concerned about the presence in Afghanistan of members of Daesh in Khorasan.
