During his visit to Kabul, the Chairman of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan (SCNS), Colonel-General Saimumin Yatimov has participated in international conference entitled “Fight against Terrorism and Expansion of Regional Cooperation to Address the Threat of Terrorism,” according to the SCNS center for public relations.
During the visit, Tajik security chief reportedly held talks with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, the head of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, First Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, the Speaker of Afghanistan's House of the People (Wolesi Jirga, the House of Representatives) Mir Rahman Rahmani, National Directorate of Security (NDS) Chief Ahmad Ziya Saraj, Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar and the National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib.
Yatimov’s meetings with high-ranking Afghan state officials focused on the issues related to the mutually beneficial cooperation between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, bilateral security cooperation, border security management, and combating trafficking in drugs and weapons.
The sides reportedly also exchanged views on the regional implications of the situation in Afghanistan and joint efforts against terrorism and extremism.
Tajik security chief, in particular, noted during the meetings that Tajikistan is a supporter of stability and security in Afghanistan and constantly emphasizes its importance for the region.
Saimumin Yatimov also delivered a statement at the international conference in Kabul and discussed topical issues of providing peace in Afghanistan, the presence of a large number of international terrorist organizations, their threats to the countries of the region, and factors to improve the situation in the neighboring country and along the border, the SCNS center for public relations said.
This is the second trip of the SCNS chief to Afghanistan since early September last year. According to Tajik national news agency Khovar, Yatimov heading SCNS’s delegation made a working visit to Afghanistan from September 9 through September 11. During the meetings and talks with Afghan high-ranking state officials, the sides discussed issues related to enhancing security situation in the two friendly countries and the region, border control, fight against international terrorism and extremism, drug trafficking and other challenges and threats, as well as communication and energy security and economic projects.
Radio Liberty reported in December that Tajikistan has deployed additional troops along its southern border with Afghanistan after Afghan authorities claimed a group of militants from Tajikistan played a major role in the Taliban's capture of an Afghan district in November. Afghan officials said the majority of the militants who overran the Maymay district in the northeastern Badakhshan Province in November were foreign fighters, including militants from Tajikistan. They said the fighters belong to Jamaat Ansarullah, a militant group founded in Afghanistan by Tajik national Amriddin Tabarov in 2010.
In early December, a 10-minute video appeared on social media purportedly showing Tajik insurgents fighting against Afghan government forces in Maymay, which borders Tajikistan. Footage depicts them killing men in Afghan Army uniforms and civilian clothes and setting fire to a building. At the end, the militants show off weapons and vehicles they purportedly seized from the Afghan troops. Afghan authorities confirmed the killings and the destruction in Maymay. Media quoted local residents who said militants, "particularly the Tajiks," killed and beheaded Afghan soldiers.
