Tajikistan’s President orders mobilization of 20,000 reservists to Afghan Border as Security Forces flee the Taliban

Tajikistan’s president ordered the mobilisation of 20,000 reservists to the border with Afghanistan after more than 1,000 Afghan security personnel fled across the border to escape Taliban militant advances, RFE reported:

Underscoring the rapid collapse of Afghan security forces, more than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan overnight, Tajik border guards said on July 5.

Hundreds of Afghan security force members have fled swift Taliban advances in the north, but the latest retreats were the largest yet confirmed.

Tajik authorities say that two-thirds of the 1,357-kilometer-long border with Afghanistan is under Taliban control and they are preparing for an influx of refugees to enter the country. They are already providing the Afghan soldiers with food and shelter.

Following a top security meeting on July 5, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon ordered 20,000 reserve officers to the Afghan border.

He also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterparts from fellow Central Asian states Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan about the situation in Afghanistan.

On July 4, Rahmon spoke with his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, about the “alarming” situation along the border, according to Tajik state media.

According to a Kremlin statement, Putin confirmed that Moscow was ready to “provide Tajikistan with the necessary support,” both on a bilateral basis and through the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance that includes Tajikistan. Russia has a military base in Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic.

Much of the recently captured territory by the Taliban is in Badakhshan, where only two of 28 districts in the northeastern province remain under government control, local sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan.

Taliban fighters are now at the gates of Badakhshan’s capital, Faizabad, having surrounded the city and put the airport under threat.

An adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on July 5 that government forces were planning a counteroffensive in the north to retake ground from the militants.

National-security adviser Hamdullah Mohib, who was in Moscow for talks with Russian officials, said government forces had not expected the Taliban offensive but would “absolutely, definitely” counterattack.

Most of the districts appear to have been abandoned by security forces without resistance, as troops suffer from low morale and are often outnumbered and without supplies.

“Unfortunately, the majority of the districts were left to the Taliban without any fight,” said Mohib-ul Rahman, a provincial council member.

The head of the Afghan Border Troops’ communications unit in Khokhan, Mohammad Zahir Safarali, who fled Afghanistan for Tajikistan on July 5, told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service how the Taliban took control.

“Local militias and villagers armed by the Afghan government joined the Taliban when they arrived, and we had no other choice but to flee,” he said.

“Remaining there would be suicide for us,” said another Afghan soldier, Mohammad Vali, who accompanied 134 Afghan troops into Tajikistan.

Since U.S. President Joe Biden in April announced U.S. troop would withdraw, the Taliban has unleashed a quick offensive and now controls about one-third of the country’s 421 districts and district centers.

With Washington aiming to exit the country in the coming weeks, there are increasing concerns that the Western-backed government in Kabul may collapse.

On July 2, all international troops left Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

Some of the most significant Taliban gains have been in the militants’ sweep across northern Afghanistan, which borders Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

The Taliban’s inroads in the north are significant because it’s a gateway to Central Asia and the group failed to take control of the area during their 1990s rule, when it was a stronghold of the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance that helped topple the Islamist group in 2001.

According to a recent analysis by the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul think tank, the Taliban strategy in the north “looks like a preemptive strike to prevent a northern opposition from organizing.” End of RFE report.

BACKGROUND obtained from the Tajik Ministries:

The President and Ministry of Defense were prepared for the mobilization.

Activities of such extremist and radical movements are one of the main and actual threats to Tajikistan and other countries in the region, which require us taking joint actions, the President said in 2020.

The President saw the emerging threat at the border after the United States announced the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. He warned in 2020, upon the 30 year independence of Tajikistan:

Given the difficult situation in the region, the Government of Tajikistan attaches a primary attention to the strengthening of border protection, especially on the Tajik-Afghan border, and takes the necessary actions to prevent drug and arms trafficking, spread of extremist literature and commitment of other transnational crimes along the state border.

I would like to recall, that these actions are taken not only to protect the interests of our country, but also to maintain peace and stability in other far and near, particularly neighboring countries. In this regard, the State Committee for National Security is tasked to jointly with other military authorities and law enforcement agencies take necessary steps and strengthen the control to ensure stable protection of the state borders and maintain a high level of military preparedness of the Border Troops.

The current situation in the world and in the region urges us to pay a serious attention to the supply of our Armed Forces as never before, since the most important task – the protection our state borders, ensuring security of the state and the nation, protection of the public stability, prevention and elimination of any external threats and challenges – is vested in the the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies.

Strengthening our country’s defense capacity and military preparedness depends on the training of professional personnel devoted to their State and Nation, in the the spirit of patriotism and self-identity.

During our independence more than 10,000 of our youth have studied at local and foreign military educational institutions and have faithfully served their Motherland in different units of the Armed Forces. And nowadays thousands of our young people study in such institutions as well.

At the same time, taking into consideration the current situation we need to modernize our Armed Forces and equip them with advanced military supplies.

I would like to emphasize that maintain the Armed Forces in constant combat readiness is the true guarantee of state protection from any threats and challenges.

Therefore, the Ministry of Defense should take necessary actions to develop and implement public programs on development of defense industry, strengthening the activity of industrial enterprises on production of special devices and military equipment repair, and supply the Armed Forces with the latest weapons and ammunition.

The Ministry of Defense is also mandated to strengthen its activities on engagement of reserve personnel mobilization, promote their training on the military registration in towns and districts, and pay a primary attention to stronger military preparedness, arrangement of military sessions, field training and military exercises through the use of latest methods.

Tajik, U.S. soldiers build relationships through information exchanges, Sgt. 1st Class Ty McNeeley reported as cooperation between U.S. and Tajik soldiers has been in the works.

Soldiers with the Armed Forces of the Republic of Tajikistan and the U.S. Army worked together in a 24-hour operation to share tactics, techniques and procedures, April 24, 2018.

This exercise was part of a three-week, military-to-military engagement between the Tajikistan Peacekeeping Battalion of the Mobile Forces and the 648th Military Engagement Team, Georgia Army National Guard, involving border security and mountain warfare techniques.

U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), with support from the Massachusetts Army National Guard, sponsored exercise Regional Cooperation 2019 (RC19) as an opportunity to work with coalition partners in Central and South Asia (CASA). RC19 was hosted by Tajikistan, 5 – 16 August 2019.