Armed clash occurred on the Tajik-Afghan border

Another armed confrontation occurred in the territory of the Shamsiddin Shohin district of the Khatlon region.

According to the Press Center of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan, an armed confrontation took place on the night of January 30, 2026, at the Tajik-Afghan border between Tajik border guards and Afghan smugglers.

The incident occurred on January 29, 2026, at approximately 7:30 PM. In the area of the border post “Bakhork” of military unit 0341 of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan, located in the Shamsiddin Shohin district, five Afghan smugglers illegally crossed the state border and entered the territory of Tajikistan from Afghanistan.

The border guards, upon discovering the smugglers, ordered them to surrender; however, they offered armed resistance and attempted to retreat to Afghanistan.

The press center of the border troops claims that the smugglers opened fire first, and in the return fire, three Afghan smugglers were killed — Jovid valadi Davlatmand, Rashid valadi Davlatmand, residents of Kariya Voricha, and Sobir valadi Zokhir, a resident of the village of Andzhir, Vulusvoli Chakhyob, in Takhar province, Afghanistan.

Two others managed to escape and hide under the cover of night in Afghanistan.

At the scene, Tajik border guards found the bodies of three Afghan smugglers, seized 3 Kalashnikov rifles with 4 magazines, 150 rounds of various calibers, a large number of spent casings, 4 bags containing 73 packages of narcotic substances of the types “hashish” and “opium,” as well as 1 boat.

The statement from the press center of the border troops notes that the situation at the state border is currently under control.

In connection with this incident, the State Committee for National Security has initiated a criminal case under articles 200 (Illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances for the purpose of sale), 289 (Smuggling), 335 (Illegal crossing of the state border of the Republic of Tajikistan), and 195 (Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation, or carrying of weapons, ammunition, explosives, and explosive devices) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, and an investigation is underway.

Recently, there have been increasing reports of armed clashes at the Tajik-Afghan border.

In particular, it was reported on January 18 that an armed confrontation occurred at the Tajik-Afghan border between Tajik border guards and armed “members of a terrorist organization.” According to the border troops, the terrorists crossed the state border from Afghanistan and entered Tajikistan in the Shamsiddin Shohin area.

However, the authorities of Afghanistan stated that these were drug couriers engaged in drug smuggling.

Also, on December 24 of last year, in the same area of Shamshiddin Shohina, two Tajik border guards — Ismatullo Kurbonov and Zirekhbon Navruzbekov — were killed as a result of an armed clash.

The authorities of Tajikistan described this incident as an armed attack by “three members of a terrorist organization.”

In the past year, more than ten cases of illegal crossing of the Tajik-Afghan border by Afghan smugglers have been recorded, who were subsequently eliminated. There were also reports of three armed attacks from Afghan territory on Tajikistan, resulting in the deaths of several Chinese citizens.