Military action in Khorog, Tajikistan
An old classmate who I am in touch with online has been passing along links regarding some goings-on on the Tajikistan/Afghanistan border. If I have the chronology correct:
I don’t know anything much about either the events of the past week nor about Tajikistan in general, I just wanted to pass along some of the links distributed by my friend as I had yet to see anything about it on the forum up to this point.
Khorog we are watching you
Zohra wrote up a quick–and–dirty
and got it online today, as well. [LINK]
The long echo of Tajikistan’s civil war
A review of this "Stan", five years since the last post, after twenty years since a short civil war and a peace settlement. Must have been bad if so many fled to Afghanistan:
Quote:
Tajikistan’s civil war dragged on for over five years, leading to huge casualties. Over its course, between 35,000 and 157,000 people were killed, 37,500 households were destroyed. Some 600,000 people fled to neighbouring Afghanistan, and 195,000 were dispersed across other post-Soviet states. More than 1.5m people became refugees within their own country, in this mountainous corner of the former Soviet empire.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-rus...n-s-civil-war?
Tajikistan: so close, no matter how far
Part Two by the same author as before, from Open Democracy; which examines the role of external actors (not Russia) who were once useful to the regime, but not now.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/bakhtiyor-sobiri/tajikistan-so-close-no-matter-how-far?
Meet Tajikistan’s embattled Islamists
An article via Open Democracy and subtitled:
Quote:
Tajikistan is trying to persecute what was once Central Asia’s only legal Islamist party out of existence. But is this really about countering terrorism, or just cracking down on dissent in any form?
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-rus...led-islamists?
Converging Factors Signal Increasing Terror Threat to Tajikistan
Articles on this country are arely spotted, so thanks to a "lurker" for the pointer to this article in CTC's 'The Sentinel'. The author is a DoD analyst and ex-US Army veteran.
Abstract:
Quote:
A confluence of factors signals an increasing terrorism threat to Tajikistan from the Islamic State in the near future. In late July 2018, Islamic State attackers conducted the group’s first attack in Tajikistan. An Islamic State Tajik spokesman threatened to increase attacks in Tajikistan the following week. Loss of Islamic State territory in Iraq and Syria may force the movement of the significant numbers of Tajik citizens fighting there. Separately, the Tajik group Jamaat Ansarullah reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State Khorasan, providing Islamic State Tajiks fleeing Syria a base in Afghanistan to join.
Link:https://ctc.usma.edu/converging-fact...at-tajikistan/
I note the defector from Tajikstan's OMON, Gulmurod Khalimov has a section about him and it appears he is alive, possibly now in Afghanistan. For a resume see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulmurod_Khalimov
Terrorism trends in Tajikistan
A briefing via The Soufan Group:
Quote:
Bottom Line Up Front:
- On May 19, 2019, a prison riot in Vakhdat, Tajikistan, left 29 people dead, including supporters of the so-called Islamic State.
- Allegedly orchestrated by militants, government information about the riot is limited and leaves many questions unanswered.
- Tajikistan has seen an uptick in jihadist-inspired violence over the last few years, signaling a worrisome trend for future instability in the country.
- In Tajikistan, counterterrorism is used as a means of suppressing political opposition and as a tool by external powers seeking to solidify a more robust presence in the country.
Link:https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbri...in-tajikistan/