Tajikistan Sends Protest Note to Taliban After Woman Is Killed Near Border
The killing of a woman in Tajikistan’s Darwaz region has prompted Dushanbe to send a protest note to the Taliban administration, heightening concerns about security in border areas between Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
Tajik media outlet Asia-Plus reported that Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry, following alleged violations of its airspace and the killing of a woman in the Darwaz area, asked Afghan officials to respect the sanctity of Tajikistan’s state borders and take effective steps to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesman for the Taliban administration’s Foreign Ministry, said in a statement that the administration had learned, with regret, of the killing of a woman in Dashtak village in Darwaz district of Tajikistan’s autonomous province of Badakhshan on the evening of Aug. 13. He expressed condolences to the victim’s family and the people of Tajikistan on behalf of the Taliban Foreign Ministry.
Balkhi claimed the incident was the result of gunfire by “corrupt and opportunistic” individuals in the border areas between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. He said there had recently been reports that some of these people were trying to create instability in parts of Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, an action that could negatively affect regional security and stability as well as the atmosphere of trust between Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
The Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman also said the administration was committed to security, stability, good neighbourliness and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, and would not allow Afghan soil to be used to create insecurity and tension.
Darwaz district lies along the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and these border areas are considered sensitive in the security relations between the two countries because of their mountainous and difficult terrain.
