8am: Over the last decade, Tajikistan’s foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) have brought their homeland under negative limelight on numerous occasions. The most notorious of them all is Gulmurod Khalimov, who became the IS Minister of War after joining the group in 2015. Before becoming a high-ranking terrorist, he served as the head of the special forces unit under Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry in the rank of colonel. After defecting to Syria, Khalimov recorded a video message in which he criticized the Tajik authorities for their ‘anti-Islamic’ religious policy and poor economy that pushed his compatriots out of the country in search of jobs. The IS used Khalimov as its poster boy for the recruitment of Tajik nationals and other Central Asians until he died in 2017. Between 1,100 and 1,900 Tajik citizens joined the IS. Click here to read more (external link).