DUSHANBE, June 17, 2015, Asia-Plus — Tajik authorities yesterday confirmed that the Taliban militants have handed over four Tajik soldiers whom they captured in December last year.
A statement released by the Tajik authorities on June 16 notes that servicemen of military unit 2610 Farhod Kalonov, Mehroj Shodiyev, Tuychiboy Norboyev and Siroj Davlatov were released and returned home through official negotiations and the efforts taken by the country’s relevant bodies.
According to the statement the soldiers were captured by unknown armed people in border area of Tajikistan on December 17, 2014 and taken to Afghanistan.
We will recall that according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Qatar has brokered the release of four Tajikistani border guards who had been held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan since December.
A statement released by the Qatari Foreign Ministry on June 11 notes that under the directives of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatari mediation succeeded in the release of four soldiers from Tajikistan who were captured by Taliban in December on the northern borders of Afghanistan.
The statement says Qatar”s efforts were out of the state”s commitment to humanitarian values. The statement added that the State of Qatar is using all its resources and diplomacy to save lives. The Ministry also praised all parties involved in the process.
We will recall that four Tajik border guards aged between 18 and 25 went missing in December after their unit commander Alimuhammad Dodokalonov sent them across the border to scavenge for firewood.
On April 6, a military court sentenced Alimuhammad Dodokalonov, acting chief of the Panj Border Service detachment at the time, to an eight-and-a-half-year prison term. He was found guilty of abuse of power, forgery and illegal logging. The military post driver, Umedjon Sanginov, who escorted the conscripts, was reportedly fined 28,000 somoni.
