The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe yesterday issued a warning on its website about terrorist groups possibly targeting public gatherings or crossings on the border with Afghanistan.
The message claimed to be based on specific information received by the Embassy and urged US citizens to take additional precautions.
“The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe has received information that terrorist groups may attempt to target large public gatherings and/or border crossings with Afghanistan. This message is an update on the risk of terrorist attack within Tajikistan.”
Advice includes avoiding large crowds and public transport. The embassy singled out the mountainous eastern region of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) as a potential site of risk and warned against camping or biking in the dark there.
“With this in mind, the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe is recommending U.S. citizens do the following:
– Avoid large crowds and public transportation to the extent possible;
– While traveling in Gorno-Badakhshan, avoid camping or biking after dark in the vicinity of the Afghan border, especially between populated areas. Do not shelter in the open after dark.”
Clashes have taken place along Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan periodically.
Pajhwok Afghan News reported yesterday that a senior police commander in the northern zone has claimed the Taliban intensified their attacks in northern Kunduz province to enable foreign terrorists to sneak into Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Lieutenant-General Sher Aziz Kamawal, the 808th Spin Zar Zone Police commander, told Pajhwok Afghan News in an exclusive interview that “the Taliban wanted to bring into Kunduz Jandullah, Tajik and Uzbek extremists and then send them to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.”
“The war in Kunduz is very complex, Pakistan has pressed the Taliban to take out their councils from Pakistan to Afghanistan, it is the reason the militants have focused more on Kunduz,” Kamawal was cited as saying.
However, he said Afghan forces would not allow Taliban militants to use Afghanistan’s soil for instability of other countries.
A recent UN Security Council report puts at around 45,000 the number of militants fighting against Afghan forces.
