Thursday, August 02, 2012 -
An Afghan border security boss and several other officers have been arrested by law enforcement authorities in Afghanistan for their alleged involvement over recent troubles in Tajikistan’s southeastern city of Khorog.
Afghan regional security force commander Qari Wadud and others are expected to face charges for aiding and abetting armed fighters in Tajikistan and supporting the smuggling of tobacco, drugs, and precious minerals across the mountainous border with Tajikistan.
Dozens of people were killed in fighting last week between Tajik government troops and illegal armed gangs in and around Khorog city, provincial capital of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
Clashes began when the Dushanbe government sent in thousands of troops to hunt down the killers of a high-ranking security officer by the suspected smugglers.
The Kabul government expects to make further arrests in the coming days, according to the independent Tajik news agency Asia-Plus.
Tajik security forces confirmed they killed eight Afghan nationals and arrested four others in the clashes that took place on Tajik territory, close to the border with Afghanistan.
In a related development, Tajik authorities are reportedly mulling plans to forcibly evict Afghan migrants out of the country, according to the Afghanistan.ru news outlet.
Citing an unidentified source close to the Afghan diplomatic mission in Dushanbe, the news outlet said the expulsion was linked to involvement of Afghan nationals in the troubles.
Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised his Tajik counterpart he will bolster the security presence on the Afghan side of the frontier until the situation in Tajikistan settled back to normal.