A combat operation took place on the Tajik-Afghan border

Afghan smugglers crossed into Tajikistan from Afghanistan and engaged in a fight with Tajik border guards.

The press center of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan reported that on February 10, 2026, in the service area of the “Darkad” border post in the Mir Said Ali Hamadani region, four Afghan smugglers illegally crossed the state border and entered Tajikistan from Afghanistan.

As a result of a military operation conducted by border troops, smuggler Avalmir valadi Abdulhakim, approximately 45 years old, a resident of the village of Maydapata in the Darkad district of Takhar province, Afghanistan, was detained. He was found in possession of 46 packages of hashish.

The other three drug couriers managed to escape back to Afghanistan under the cover of night.

Additionally, two rubber boats used by the smugglers for illegal border crossing were seized from the scene.

In connection with this incident, the State Committee for National Security has initiated a criminal case on charges of illegal drug trafficking, smuggling, and illegal border crossing, and an investigation is underway.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has not yet commented on this incident.

Recently, there have been increasing reports of armed clashes along the Tajik-Afghan border. Notably, on January 18, it was reported that an armed confrontation occurred between Tajik border guards and armed “members of a terrorist organization” at the Tajik-Afghan border. According to border troops, terrorists crossed the state border from Afghanistan and infiltrated Tajikistan in the area of Shamsiddin Shohin.

Also, on December 24 of last year, in the same area of Shamsiddin Shohin, two Tajik border guards — Ismatullo Kurbonov and Zirekhbon Navruzbekov — were killed in 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 crossings of the Tajik-Afghan border by Afghan smugglers have been recorded, many of whom were subsequently eliminated. There have also been reports of three armed attacks from Afghanistan on Tajikistan, resulting in the deaths of several Chinese citizens.