Tajikistan has reported multiple armed incursions along its border with Afghanistan this month, heightening tensions with the Taliban government. Officials in Dushanbe said more than a dozen people have been killed, including Chinese nationals working in remote areas. In the latest incident in Shamsiddin Shokhin district, five people were killed after armed men crossed from Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province. Tajik authorities described the attackers as members of a terrorist organisation and accused the Taliban of failing to uphold its security commitments. The clashes follow two late-November attacks targeting Chinese companies in Tajikistan, which killed at least five Chinese workers. Beijing, Tajikistan’s largest creditor, urged its citizens to evacuate border areas and demanded stronger protection measures. Analysts said the assaults bear the hallmarks of the ISIL affiliate in Khorasan Province, which seeks to undermine the Taliban’s credibility as a regional security guarantor. The Taliban expressed sorrow over the killings, blamed an unnamed armed group, and reaffirmed its commitment to the 2020 Doha Agreement. Despite limited diplomatic engagement since 2023, Tajikistan remains one of the Taliban’s strongest critics in Central Asia. The recent violence threatens to derail fragile ties and complicate regional security cooperation involving China and Afghanistan.