Five Chinese nationals have been killed and five others injured in Tajikistan over the past week in attacks launched from neighboring Afghanistan, Tajik authorities and China’s embassy in Dushanbe confirmed on Monday. China’s embassy has urged Chinese companies and citizens in the border region to evacuate immediately due to safety concerns.
The incidents occurred in multiple attacks near the Afghan border. On Sunday, Chinese citizens were targeted in an armed assault, while another attack on Friday involved drones dropping grenades, killing three Chinese nationals.
Tajikistan, a mountainous former Soviet republic of roughly 11 million people, has historically maintained tense relations with the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan. The country has previously warned of risks posed by drug traffickers and illicit miners operating along its remote frontier.
China is a major investor in Tajikistan and also shares a remote mountainous border with the country, making the safety of its citizens a priority.
As of Monday, Afghanistan’s authorities had not provided an immediate response to the attacks. Last week, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry blamed an unnamed group seeking to destabilize the region and pledged to cooperate with Tajik authorities.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon convened a meeting with heads of security agencies to discuss measures to strengthen border security. His office stated that Rahmon “strongly condemned the illegal and provocative actions of Afghan citizens and ordered that effective measures be taken to resolve the problem and prevent a recurrence of such incidents.”
Tajikistan, which endured a brutal civil war in the 1990s following independence from the Soviet Union, is closely aligned with Russia, which maintains a military base in the country.
Millions of ethnic Tajiks, who speak Persian, live across the border in Afghanistan. Historically, Tajikistan has supported Afghan Tajiks opposed to the Taliban, adding complexity to the region’s security dynamics.
The recent attacks underscore the ongoing volatility along the Tajik-Afghan border and the heightened risks for foreign nationals, particularly Chinese citizens, in this strategically important and geopolitically sensitive region. Authorities are now focused on preventing further cross-border violence and ensuring the safety of residents and foreign personnel.
