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Dushanbe deploys extra troops along Afghan border after Tajik militant activity

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Tajikistan has deployed additional troops along its southern border with Afghanistan after Kabul authorities claimed a group of Tajik militants played a key role in the capture of a district in northern Badakhshan province.
 
Badakshan’s Maymay district was captured in November by what local officials claimed were mainly foreign fighters, RFE/RL reported.
 
According to Afghan officials, the militants were from Jamaat Ansarullah, an insurgent group founded in Afghanistan by Tajik national Amriddin Tabarov in 2010.
 
RFE/RL reported that earlier this month, a video was posted on social media reportedly showing Tajik insurgents fighting against Afghan government forces in Maymay.
 
Footage shows them killing men in Afghan Army uniforms and civilian clothes and setting fire to a building. At the end, the militants, who spoke a Persian dialect spoken in Tajikistan, show off weapons and vehicles they claim to have seized from the Afghan troops.
 
Afghan authorities confirmed the killings and the destruction in Maymay and local residents said militants, “particularly the Tajiks,” killed and beheaded Afghan soldiers.
 
Tajik officials have meanwhile identified at least 15 Tajik nationals whose faces or names appeared on videos and statements shared by Afghan officials in connection with the fall of Maymay, RFE/RL reported.
 
This has however caused concern in Dushanbe, because they are ordinary individuals with no apparent connections to any political, religious, or opposition groups, the report read.
 
Sources speaking on condition of anonymity told RFE/RL that these Tajik militants are people who left the country between 2010 and 2017 – men mainly aged between 20 and 40 years – and some took their wives and children with them to Afghanistan.
 
Tajik authorities haven’t commented publicly about the border reinforcements but they said that border security continues as normal.
 
“It is a real threat. Today they’re fighting for the Taliban, but we can’t predict what they’re going to do in the future,” sources in Dushanbe told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service.
 
These sources, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said however that an elite military unit had been deployed near the areas where Tajik fighters are thought to be concentrated on the Afghan side of the border.
 
Meanwhile, Badakhshan Deputy Governor Akhtar Muhammad Khairzada told Pajhwok news agency that the militants are mainly based in Warduj and Jurm districts in Badakshan and that there were also Uzbek, Chechen, and Chinese Uyghur militants based in the area.
 
Afghan officials estimate the number of Tajik militants in the country at around 200, but the exact figure is impossible to confirm.

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Khalilzad warns Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions likely to worsen after fresh airstrikes

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Former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has warned that the latest Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan and recent violence inside Pakistan are part of a wider crisis, saying he sees no indication that the situation is about to change.

In a post on X on Thursday, Khalilzad described the Pakistani airstrikes that have killed Afghan civilians and the increasing use of force against civilians in Pakistan as “interconnected tragedies,” implying both effected by Pakistan’s establishment.

“Unfortunately, I do not see any signs of change,” Khalilzad said, adding that current indicators suggested the use of force against Pakistanis would “likely get worse” in the coming days.

His comments came after Pakistan carried out a new wave of airstrikes inside Afghanistan overnight Thursday, saying it had targeted 10 locations used to launch and store drones.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes were conducted in response to drones launched from Afghan territory a day earlier and described them as “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate.”

Afghan officials said the strikes killed four civilians. The attacks reportedly hit locations including Kandahar, Khost and Paktia provinces. Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate authorities have denied launching the drones cited by Pakistan and have condemned the strikes.

The latest attacks follow Pakistani airstrikes earlier this week in Kunar and Paktika. Pakistan said those operations killed 28 militants, while the United Nations confirmed that three Afghan civilians — a man, a woman and a girl — were killed, with four others injured.

The renewed airstrikes come amid a sharp deterioration in relations between Kabul and Islamabad. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from its territory and launch attacks inside Pakistan.

Afghan authorities reject the allegations and say militancy inside Pakistan is an internal issue.

Khalilzad has previously called for a change in Pakistan’s strategy toward both its internal security problems and Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan summons Pakistani chargé d’affaires over latest airstrikes

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Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires to Kabul and lodged a strong protest against the violation of Afghan airspace and Pakistani military airstrikes on several Afghan provinces.

The ministry handed the Pakistani diplomat a formal protest note following the attacks on Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces on Wednesday night, which reportedly caused civilian casualties.

The Islamic Emirate strongly condemned the strikes, calling them a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and contrary to Islamic, international, humanitarian and good-neighborly principles.

The ministry also rejected what it called baseless claims that Afghan territory was being used as a source of Pakistan’s recent security incidents.

It said using such claims to justify military action was an attempt to distort facts, mislead public opinion and conceal Pakistan’s internal failures.

The Islamic Emirate further accused Pakistan’s military leadership of avoiding commitments made to regional countries and warned that such actions could further escalate tensions in the region.

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Museum dedicated to preserving ‘Jihadi’ artefacts opens in Kandahar

The museum’s collection includes more than 100 items gathered from different locations.

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A museum dedicated to preserving what Afghan authorities describe as “Jihadi artefacts” has officially opened in Kandahar, with officials saying more than 100 items have so far been collected for display.

Mufti Mohammad Tahir Ahmad, Director General for the Preservation of Jihadi Artefacts at the Ministry of Information and Culture, attended the inauguration ceremony alongside Qari Ahmadullah Saeed Khosti, Director of Registration for Jihadi Artefacts and Documents.

Mufti Inamullah Samangani, head of the Kandahar Information and Culture Department, and officials from several government departments also attended the ceremony.

According to the official responsible for preserving the artefacts in Kandahar, the museum’s collection includes more than 100 items gathered from different locations.

The collection includes weapons that officials say were captured from British, Soviet and US forces, as well as personal belongings and other items associated with people killed during Afghanistan’s conflicts over the past two decades.

Officials said efforts to collect additional artefacts would continue in order to expand the museum’s collection.

The museum is now open to visitors, according to the officials.

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