Three Chinese nationals working at a remote gold mining camp in southern Tajikistan were killed in a cross-border attack launched from Afghanistan, Tajik authorities said.
The attack marks the second deadly strike on Chinese workers in the volatile border region within a year. It has heightened fears of escalating militancy spilling over from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The incident unfolded late on Wednesday, November 26, in Tajikistan’s southwestern Khatlon province, near the rugged Panj River, which marks much of the 1,350-kilometer (840-mile) frontier with Afghanistan.
According to a statement from Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assailants targeted a workers’ camp operated by LLC Shohin SM—a private gold-extraction firm with Chinese ties—located within the patrol zone of the “Istiqlol” Border Guard Post in the Shamsiddin Shohin district.
“This attack was carried out using an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with grenades and firearms,” the ministry detailed, noting that the drone crossed into Tajik airspace before unleashing its payload.
All three victims were identified as Chinese employees of the company, with China’s embassy in Dushanbe later confirming one additional Chinese national was injured in the assault.
Tajik officials stopped short of directly blaming the Taliban regime in Kabul but issued a sharp rebuke, describing the perpetrators as “criminal groups located in the neighboring country (Afghanistan)” that “continue to commit acts aimed at destabilizing the situation in the border regions.”
The ministry “strongly condemned” the incursion as an “act of terrorist groups” and urged Afghan authorities to “take effective measures to ensure stability and security along the state border between the two neighboring countries.”
The statement lamented that “despite the constant efforts by Tajikistan to maintain security and create an atmosphere of peace and stability in the border areas,” such disruptions persist.
This assault echoes a similar incident in November 2024, when armed groups from Afghanistan raided a Chinese-operated site in the same Khatlon sector, killing one Chinese worker and injuring five others—including four fellow Chinese nationals and one Tajik employee.
That attack, too, involved cross-border gunfire and prompted Dushanbe to demand greater accountability from the Taliban.
The recurrence has amplified concerns in Tajikistan, a Muslim-majority nation and one of the poorest former Soviet republics, where extremism has long been a specter since the Taliban’s 2021 return to power in Kabul.
Tajik security analysts point to Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province—directly across from the attack site—as a growing hub for Central Asian extremists, where Taliban control remains tenuous.
The attack comes at an awkward juncture for Tajik-Afghan ties. In mid-November, a high-level Tajik delegation—including senior diplomats and security officials—visited Kabul for the first such talks since 2021, discussing bilateral cooperation, joint economic projects, and even the fate of Afghanistan’s embassy in Dushanbe.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi hailed the “deep-rooted historical and cultural relations” between the neighbors, expressing optimism for expanded political dialogue and trade.
President Emomali Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, remains a vocal Taliban critic, repeatedly demanding protection for Afghanistan’s ethnic Tajiks (about 25% of 40 million people) and decrying the spread of extremism.
For Beijing, the killings are a stark reminder of the risks tied to its deepening footprint in Central Asia. China is Tajikistan’s biggest investor, with cumulative foreign direct investment exceeding $2.87 billion since 2007—29% of the total from all nations—and a focus on mining, infrastructure, and energy.
Firms like Zijin Mining (which operates the massive Zarafshon gold mine, producing 70% of Tajikistan’s output) and joint ventures such as TALCO Gold with Tibet Huayu Mining dominate the sector, extracting gold, antimony, silver, and rare earths from the Pamirs’ mineral-rich veins.
These projects, often in remote border zones, employ thousands of Chinese expatriates but have drawn local ire over environmental damage—polluted rivers, toxic waste spills, and health woes like respiratory issues from dust—and accusations of corruption, including land cessions to settle $300 million-plus debts.
In response, China’s embassy in Dushanbe issued an urgent advisory on November 28, reiterating a prior call for all Chinese mining personnel in the border area to “evacuate as soon as possible” due to repeated threats.
The killings drew swift international condemnation. Pakistan, citing its own struggles with Afghan-based militancy, decried the “cowardly attack” and called for decisive action against border threats, while expressing solidarity with China and Tajikistan.
“Pakistan unequivocally condemns this cowardly attack on Chinese nationals. The use of armed drones in the incident underlines the gravity of the threat emanating from Afghanistan and the brazenness of those behind it,” the FO said.
“As a neighbour that has repeatedly suffered terrorist attacks orchestrated from Afghan soil, the people of Pakistan fully understand and share the grief and anguish of our Chinese friends and Tajik partners,” it said.
“Pakistan has consistently stressed that Afghan territory must not be used for terrorism against its neighbours or any other country. The repeated use of Afghan soil by terrorist elements and their continued presence under the patronage of the Afghan Taliban regime, is a matter of serious concern for the entire region and the wider international community,” it said.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated sharply since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, reaching a low point after deadly border clashes in October that claimed around 70 lives on both sides.
A ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey ended the fighting, but subsequent talks in Doha and Istanbul failed to yield a durable agreement.
Security remains the core stumbling block. Pakistan insists that the Taliban rein in Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants operating from Afghan soil, whom Islamabad blames for a sharp rise in attacks inside Pakistan.
The TTP has waged a long and bloody insurgency against the Pakistani state. Kabul rejects the accusations, retorting that Pakistan itself shelters anti-Taliban groups and routinely violates Afghan sovereignty.
- By AFP
- Edited By ET Online Desk
