The Government of Tajikistan Against the Taliban?

The authorities of Russia claim that Tajikistan opposed the resumption of the SCO-Afghanistan group. However, a representative of Tajikistan in this organization denied his words.

The Director of the Second Department of Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Zamir Kabulov, stated that Moscow and most participants of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) supported the resumption of the SCO-Afghanistan group, except for Tajikistan.

Zamir Kabulov noted that at the SCO meeting held on May 20 and 21 in Almaty, there were some doubts on this matter from Tajikistan; however, Russia hopes for a softening of Dushanbe’s position in this regard.

However, the acting national coordinator of the Republic of Tajikistan for SCO affairs, Ahmad Saidmuradzada, told Asia-Plus that Zamir Kabulov “incorrectly presented Tajikistan’s positions.” According to him, Tajikistan emphasizes the need to discuss the issues of Afghanistan within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and does not oppose the resumption of the “SCO – Afghanistan” contact group’s work.

Saidmuradzada also emphasized that the meetings of the bodies and mechanisms of SCO interaction are closed; however, Kabulov violated the procedural rules of the SCO and brought their content into the public information space. However, according to him, Dushanbe does not pay attention to such insinuations from the Russian diplomat.

The status of observer for Afghanistan was granted in 2012, and until the Taliban seized power in 2021, the country maintained this status and participated as an observer in SCO summits.

A year ago, the Taliban leadership stated that representatives of the Taliban government have the legitimate right to participate in SCO summits, and the absence of Taliban representatives is an obstacle “to comprehensive coordination of actions to counter security challenges, combat drug trafficking, provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan population, and implement infrastructure projects.”

The Supreme Court of Tajikistan included the Taliban movement in the list of terrorist organizations, and any activities and propaganda of the movement’s ideologies are considered a crime in Tajikistan.

The government of Tajikistan, led by President Emomali Rahmon, is known for its open anti-Taliban position.

Earlier, Rustam Emomali, the Chairman of the Majlisi Oli (the upper house of the parliament) of Tajikistan, stated at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CSTO in Kazakhstan – a country that has removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations – that Afghanistan has once again become a “hotbed of terrorism.” During his speech, the eldest son of the president mentioned that more than a thousand religious madrasas have been established on the territory of Afghanistan, most of which are located in close proximity to Tajikistan, where “suicide terrorists are being trained, among others.”

However, despite the harsh criticism of the Taliban, the government of Tajikistan has established cooperation with the Taliban government at various levels, including Tajikistan supplying them with millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.