Mumin Ahmadi Mullorajab Yusufi Nigorai Fazliddin July 27, 2021 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty DUSHANBE — When the Taliban captured a strategically important security checkpoint near Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan last month, it assigned a Tajik militant to raise the Taliban flag on the site. The militant goes by the alias Mahdi Arsalon and has a
RFE/RL’s Tajik Service July 23, 2021 DUSHANBE — Tajikistan has said it is ready to shelter up to 100,000 refugees from neighboring Afghanistan amid increasing security concerns in Central Asia over the fallout of the Taliban’s territorial gains in the northern part of the war-torn country. Imomali Ibrohimzoda, the first deputy chief of the Committee for Emergency
By Radio Azadi July 9, 2021 Taliban representatives visited Moscow on July 8 seeking to provide assurances that recent gains across Afghanistan do not pose a threat to Russia or Central Asian states. Taliban fighters have captured large swaths of territory in northern Afghanistan as government forces collapse with the U.S. troop exit from the country.
RFE/RL’s Tajik Service July 7, 2021 About 600 Afghan servicemen who crossed the border into Tajikistan while retreating from Taliban fighters have been flown home on four flights since late on July 6. A source in Tajikistan’s law enforcement told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service that the last flight carrying 130 Afghan servicemen left the Kulob airport
Ayaz Gul VOA News July 6, 2021 ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan’s national security chief said Tuesday that “teething problems” stemming from the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops were behind recent rapid Taliban territorial gains and his government was working to overcome them. U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered all American soldiers to leave the war-torn South
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 5, 2021 Tajikistan will reinforce its border with an additional 20,000 troops in response to a Taliban offensive capturing large swaths of territory in northern Afghanistan as U.S. troops exit the country. Underscoring the rapid collapse of Afghan security forces, more than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan overnight, Tajik
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 2, 2021 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the top diplomats of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on July 1, with Afghanistan high on the agenda as U.S. forces prepare to exit the war-torn country and Washington seeks Central Asian partners. The meetings in Washington come as the Taliban has
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 28, 2021 Another group of Afghan government soldiers has fled across the border into Tajikistan as Taliban militants press an offensive across swaths of northern Afghanistan. Tajikistan’s border service said that 17 Afghan soldiers fled into the country on June 27 after Taliban militants attacked a border checkpoint located in the town
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 25, 2021 By Bruce Pannier For any Central Asia governments that thought they had time to consider their policies toward Afghanistan while the last foreign troops are withdrawing from the country, the clock already seems to have run out. Few could have foreseen the rapid advances Taliban fighters have made in
Bruce Pannier Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 24, 2021 Some recent media reports suggest the U.S. military will seek to reposition some of its troops in Central Asia after its big decision to withdraw from Afghanistan after nearly two decades in the country. The New York Times reported on April 15 that U.S. officials had been