DUSHANBE, December 24, 2014, Asia-Plus – Appropriate agencies of Tajikistan are conducting intensive negotiations with the Afghan authorities on release of the abducted Tajik border guards, an official source at one of Tajik power-wielding structures told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the Afghan authorities noted that the Afghan law enforcement authorities have taken all necessary measures to secure release of the abducted Tajik border guards. “They say the release of the abducted Tajik border guards is a matter of time,” the source noted.
We will recall that Afghan News Agency Khaama Press (KP) on December 20 quoted an official of Kunduz Province as saying that four Tajik border guards have been abducted by Taliban militants.
Taliban militants want to exchange the abducted Tajik border guards for their supporters who are being held in jails in Tajikistan, KP reported.
News website Afghanistan.ru reports four Tajik border guards were abducted by unknown people in the border area of the Afghan northern Kunduz Province on December 20.
Sarwar Husseini, a spokesman for the Kunduz police department, was quoted as saying that Taliban militants are behind the abduction of the Tajik border guards. Four Tajik border guards allegedly crossed the border to cut firewood in one of forests of the woloswali of Imam Sahib.
Kunduz law enforcement authorities know the whereabouts of the abducted border guards and the operation to free them has already been launched, Ariana TV reported.
Tajik law enforcement authorities have confirmed the information about abduction of four servicemen of the Panj border unit by unknown armed people. The State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan (SCNS) is reportedly investigating the incident.
