Who benefits from the killing of Chinese citizens in Tajikistan?
Source: Sputnik Tajikistan
Pressure on China or destabilisation of Central Asia – what lies behind the attack on Chinese citizens near the Tajik-Afghan border was investigated by Sputnik Tajikistan.
The killing of five Chinese citizens as a result of gunfire from Afghanistan has overshadowed border security and affected trust between Tajikistan and the Taliban*. The situation escalated to the point where border crossings between Tajikistan and Afghanistan were closed from December 2 to 8.
These events attracted international attention. The diplomatic missions of Iran and Pakistan, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), condemned the killings of Chinese citizens, describing them as acts aimed at destabilising the region.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Dushanbe urged its citizens to leave dangerous areas in the Tajik-Afghan border region. President Emomali Rahmon held meetings with security officials regarding the “situation on the Tajik-Afghan border and ways to strengthen it.”
“The Head of State strongly condemned the illegal and provocative actions of Afghan citizens and instructed the responsible authorities to take effective measures to resolve the issue and prevent similar tragic incidents from recurring,” the press service of the Tajik leader emphasized.
What really happened and who benefits from attacks on Chinese citizens in Tajikistan was analysed by Sputnik Tajikistan.
PRESSURE ON CHINA OR REGIONAL DESTABILIZATION?
According to the Tajik State Committee for National Security (GKNB) Border Service, on November 30 at 18:45, “members of an armed terrorist group” attacked employees of the road construction company China Road and Bridge Corporation in the village of Shodak, jamoat Vishkharv, Darvoz district, from Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province. Two Chinese citizens were killed, and two others were injured with varying degrees of severity.
“A similar terrorist act occurred on November 26 from Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province in Tajikistan’s Shamsiddin Shohin district, resulting in the deaths of three employees of the company Shokhin-SM and one injury,” the agency clarified.
Regional and international media attributed these attacks to terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, including Uyghur militants of the “East Turkestan Islamic Movement”**, whose goal is to sever relations between Tajikistan and the Taliban*, destabilise Central Asia, and exert pressure on China.
EXPECTATIONS OR MISTAKES?
Experts note that hints of the true motives behind these incidents can primarily be found in the reports of Tajik border guards, as well as in the statement of the Taliban* Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Law enforcement officials in Tajikistan point out that, despite Dushanbe’s consistent efforts to maintain security and create a mutually beneficial atmosphere in the border areas of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, actions aimed at destabilising the situation along the state border have been recorded.
“The Tajik side, expressing deep concern, strongly condemns these heinous actions of criminal groups and calls on the current Afghan authorities to take effective and timely measures to ensure security and stability on the state border of the two countries and to apprehend those responsible,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the Taliban* Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the attack in the Khatlon region was carried out by groups whose goal is to create instability and mistrust between the countries.
According to experts, Tajikistan has always sought to “maintain security and create an atmosphere of mutually beneficial cooperation.” At the same time, “criminal groups” undermine security and stability at the border. The call for the “current Afghan authorities” to take action indicates that Dushanbe has data on the real perpetrators and does not see the Taliban* themselves as responsible for these incidents.
Security and geopolitics specialist Abdulnosir Nurzod notes that the Taliban* have repeatedly assured the Central Asian republics that no group would use Afghan territory for destructive or terrorist activities. However, the killing of Chinese citizens in Khatlon calls into question Kabul’s efforts and exacerbates regional concerns.
“When the Tajik authorities speak not of terrorist organizations, but of ‘criminal groups,’ it hints that the Taliban* are not capable of ensuring security across Afghanistan. The Taliban* also indirectly acknowledge this reality by referring to gangs whose ‘goal is to sow instability and distrust among regional countries.’ In fact, the Taliban* know these groups exist and understand that they cannot control them,” the expert said.
Currently, it is known that police in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province have detained several suspects linked to the November 30 attack on Chinese citizens in Tajikistan.
Sputnik Tajikistan learned from a source in the intelligence department of the 4th brigade “Umari Solis” of the Taliban* Ministry of Defence that the identities of four individuals have been established—Qori Misbahulhaq Umar, Muboriz Sadr, Gulanboz Hakju, and Yasin (“Anas”)—who investigators believe carried out the shooting. They were arrested in the village of Ruzvai in the Maimay district, located near the Tajik border crossing at Shodak, and transferred to Faizabad.
“During the attack, they used weapons with laser sights. Apparently, these were American M4 rifles with optics,” added the source from the special unit.
GOLD PROSPECTORS FROM THE SOUTH
While the investigation into the November 30 shooting is ongoing, it remains unknown who was behind the November 26 attack, in which three employees of the company Shokhin-SM were killed, and one was injured using a drone.
The Taliban* have not officially responded to this incident, considering it “lost” amid subsequent events in Darvoz.
However, Sputnik Tajikistan learned that the gunfire toward Tajikistan came from a gold-mining site owned by gold miner Yusuf Helmandi.
“Yusuf is among those under the protection of Bashir Nurzay, who came to Shahr-i-Buzurg from the southern provinces this year. It is possible that this was a deliberate action, and the order to fire came from the leadership of the Badakhshan Mining Department,” the source said.
Since April of this year, the head of this department has been Shafiqulla Hafiz, a Tajik from the Yaftal district of Badakhshan province in Afghanistan. He is highly skilled at “buying” influential officials, including the Taliban* Chief of Staff and the Pashtun governor of Badakhshan, and achieved his current position through large bribes, sources close to him told Sputnik Tajikistan.
Initially, Hafiz had no projects in Shahr-i-Buzurg, and most of the gold mining sites belonged to the former head of the Badakhshan Mining Department, Abdurahman Ammar—a native of the village of Kassob—who was considered one of the most influential Tajik commanders in the Taliban* in the region.
However, after the replacement of the Taliban* border battalions with southern Pashtun units, the situation changed drastically. Hafiz became head of the Badakhshan Mining Department, while Ammar was sent to Kabul and later Kandahar, accused of “separatism.” According to one version, he is now imprisoned.
Sources from Sputnik Tajikistan note that Shafiqulla effectively acts as a representative of Qari Fasehuddin and is connected to Haji Bashir Nurzay, considered one of the world’s largest drug traffickers. He was among the first investors in the Taliban* during the 1990s and is known as the Pablo Escobar of Central Asia.
The Americans, who invaded Afghanistan in 2001, tried to establish “cooperation” with Nurzay, but in 2005, he was arrested in New York on charges of drug trafficking worth $50 million. In 2009, a U.S. court sentenced him to life imprisonment, but in October 2021, Nurzay was exchanged for American combat diver engineer Mark Freriks, after which he returned to his homeland.
Now, all the Afghan drug trade is under his control, and hundreds of gold-mining projects in Badakhshan and Takhar, according to reliable sources, belong to his companies, which extract dozens of kilograms of gold daily.
THE BRITISH WORKING WITH THE AMERICANS
Before the two incidents involving the killings of Chinese citizens, the Tajik GKNB announced that Afghan smugglers in the border area of Khamadoni, Khatlon province, had been eliminated using a drone. As a result of the operation on the night of November 20, two out of seven smugglers were neutralized, and 116 packages of narcotics were discovered and seized.
Sources familiar with the movements of Afghan smugglers along the Tajik border say that the killing of Chinese employees, allegedly due to the washing out of the Panj riverbank caused by dumping stones and gravel into the river, is just a pretext. In reality, the organizers of the attack on Chinese citizens were angered by the elimination of smugglers and the loss of a large quantity of narcotics.
According to Colonel Haji Abdurauf Rahimi (name changed), who commanded the Afghan Border Forces for many years, all matters related to the border areas of Badakhshan and Takhar are now in the hands of Bashir Nurzay and Shafiqulla Hafiz. In a conversation with Sputnik Tajikistan, the senior officer stated that no actions are taken without their approval.
“When Tajikistan eliminated the smugglers using a drone and seized 116 packages of drugs, Afghan traffickers sent their own drone toward the Chinese company, as if to show that they too have such capabilities. During the attack on the Chinese, the Taliban* drone used a mortar shell, and the attack on Chinese citizens in Darvoz was a continuation of the same ‘revenge,” shared Haji Abdurauf Rahimi.
He also described Nurzay as a special agent of the American and British intelligence services in northern Afghanistan.
“Throughout history, Afghan drug trafficking and the ‘Golden Triangle’ were controlled by the British, later joined by the Americans. During the republic era, Helmand—which produced 40% of the world’s heroin—was under British intelligence and military control for 20 years. Even the Americans were not allowed to enter the province, and their numerous attempts to oust the British failed,” the Sputnik Tajikistan source noted.
He added that drug trafficking continues under Bashir Nurzay’s leadership in the interests of the British and Americans.
“Now that the U.S. intelligence services in Afghanistan no longer have the previous capabilities or access to the airspace of border regions with Tajikistan, and cannot destabilize the southern border of Russia’s sphere of influence, they have placed their most effective spy in these areas. But now Nurzay also has new ‘business partners’—the Chinese. They are his main partners not only in gold mining in Badakhshan and Takhar but also in oil extraction in Balkh,” said Haji Abdurauf Rahimi.
The reasoning of the Afghan colonel makes sense and is close to reality, but such opinions are always overshadowed by Western media propaganda, which seeks to portray the situation at the Tajik-Afghan border as alarming. They repeatedly raise old narratives, such as the threat of terrorist groups, the confrontation between China and the U.S., and so on.
COMPLICATED GAMES
The first fake news story was published by British Reuters but was removed from the website after being refuted by the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs due to “lack of evidence.”
However, the story was picked up by other agencies, such as Afghanistan International, Hashti Subh, Radio Ozodi, Nastoyashchee Vremya, Deutsche Welle, and even some Central Asian media outlets, which apparently receive Western financial support or are uninformed about the situation at the Tajik-Afghan border. They attributed the killing of Chinese citizens to terrorist organizations such as ISIS** and the “East Turkestan Islamic Movement”**. Some went further, framing the attack as a result of a trade conflict between China and the U.S.
Afghan media outlets ToloNews and 1TV claimed that the attack was orchestrated by the Pakistani intelligence service, which is now in serious conflict with the Taliban*.
“Tajikistan’s response was cautious and based on reliable information. Now Dushanbe is watching to see whether the Taliban* can confront Bashir Nurzay’s criminal groups. In fact, the reaction of Afghan media shows that the Taliban* lack such capabilities and blame the Pakistani intelligence for it,” a Sputnik Tajikistan source said.
And, apparently, this may be true.
According to Haji Abdurauf Rahimi, attributing the killings of Chinese citizens to terrorist groups is unrealistic and illogical, since hundreds of Chinese citizens work at the same gold mines in Afghanistan, and so far no one has been harmed—except for one person killed in Takhar last year because his translator collaborated with the Taliban* for extra money.
“Chinese workers are employed in the villages of Ovez, Ponimur, Doshmandi, Bazari Vindiyon, Shulmand, Ashval, and Holur. This concerns only the Shahr-i-Buzurg district, not to mention other settlements in Takhar province. They have imported hundreds of units of gold-mining equipment. None of them interacts with the local population. They have their own Chinatowns, protected by Bashir Nurzay’s men, southern Pashtuns. A Chinese worker is always a Chinese worker, whether in Tajikistan or Afghanistan. But why are they being killed in Tajikistan and not in Afghanistan?” the colonel asked.
WHAT CONCERNS TAJIKISTAN?
For the authorities in Tajikistan, the problem is not only the attack on Chinese citizens.
According to international affairs expert Nurullo Huseynov, the real scandal for Dushanbe is the delay in the road construction project, since the republic cannot abandon infrastructure projects due to the ongoing gold mining in Afghanistan.
“Until now, dozens of kilometers of road in Badakhshan along the Panj River have been completed, with stones, sand, and gravel deposited into the river. But from the Afghan side, even during four years of Taliban* rule, there were no protests, because there was some kind of understanding between local gold miners and Tajik border guards. But now, should a national project be halted for the interests of a few prospectors who came from southern Afghanistan and want to impose their rules? They build houses along the river and, in a way, prohibit nature from flooding,” he said.
Although Dushanbe has tried in recent months to improve relations with the Taliban*, and official Kabul seemed satisfied with these developments, the emergence of “criminal groups” clouds cooperation between the two countries and highlights the Taliban’s* inability to confront them, raising doubts about the effectiveness of current security measures.
*Organisation sanctioned by the UN for terrorist activities.
**Terrorist organisations banned in Russia and Tajikistan.