The presence and activities of the Taliban Movement’s Consul in Khorog (Tajikistan’s Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region, or GBAO) are aimed at proper operation of marketplace for the Tajik-Afghan cross-border trade in the region.
Director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, Khairiddin Usmonzoda, stated this at a news conference in Dushanbe on February 7.
“The goal of the Afghan Consulate in Khorog, which is currently headed by the Taliban representative, is the correct establishment of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries,” Usmonzoda noted.
Currently, there are four marketplaces for the Tajik-Afghan cross-border trade operating in GBAO: in Khorog’s Tem neighborhood unit; Langar village in Ishkashim district; Ruzvai village in Darvoz district; and Khumroghi village in Vanj region.
Recall, Naqibullah Dehqanzada, acting head of the Afghan Consulate in GBAO’s capital, Khorog, stated in November last year that the Consulate operates under direct support and supervision of the Taliban-run Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Dehqanzada issued a statement to confirm the Afghan consulate’s connection with the Taliban after the former Afghan government’s ambassador to Tajikistan tore up the appointment of a letter of a Taliban diplomat in the embassy.
On November 9, 2023, Zia Ahmad Takal, a deputy spokesperson for the Taliban-run Foreign Ministry, published Dehqanzada's video statement and wrote on X social media platform (formerly Twitter) that the Afghan Consulate in Khorog is operating under the supervision of the group.
The statement was made in response to words of former Afghan government’s ambassador to Tajikistan Mohammad Zahir Aghbar, who said that the Afghan Consulate in Khorog had been closed for financial reasons.
Relations between the Taliban leadership in Kabul and official Dushanbe are strained as Tajik authorities have been outspoken in their demand that the unrecognized Afghan government boost inclusiveness since it took over after the withdrawal of U.S.-led international troops in August 2021.
