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.

At least three people were killed in an armed clash along the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border, according to Tajik officials. The incident occurred on Tuesday in Kavo village of Shamsiddin Shohin district when three individuals allegedly crossed the border from Afghanistan. The confrontation began after the group reportedly refused to surrender to Tajik border guards.

Tajik authorities described the infiltrators as terrorists who resisted arrest and planned an armed attack on a border post. The border guards launched an operation in which all three were killed. Officials said the group had crossed into Tajik territory before the clash erupted.

Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the site, including three M-16 rifles, one Kalashnikov assault rifle, three foreign pistols with silencers, ten hand grenades, a night-vision scope, explosives, and other military equipment, according to the officials.

Three Chinese nationals were killed and two others seriously injured in a drone strike that originated from Afghanistan and hit Tajikistan’s southwestern Khatlon province on November 26. The Chinese embassy in Dushanbe confirmed the incident on November 28, stating that the victims were employees of the Chinese mining company LLC Shahin SM. Tajikistan’s foreign ministry said the drone, carrying grenades, specifically targeted the company’s site and confirmed it came from Afghan territory. China has urged Tajik authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and called on Afghanistan’s Taliban government to take appropriate measures. Kabul has yet to issue an official response. The attack adds to a series of recent assaults on Chinese nationals working abroad, particularly in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions, where militant groups have previously targeted Chinese projects.