Report: China to build base for Tajikistan forces near Afghan border

China will finance the construction of an outpost for a special forces unit of Tajikistan's police near the Tajik-Afghan border, a report says. 

Media outlets quoting an unnamed parliamentary spokesman said on Thursday that Tajikistan's lawmakers had approved the plan to build the base in the Ishkashim district of the mountainous Gorno-Badakhshan province.

"All construction is funded by the Chinese side. After construction, the base will be transferred to the Tajik (police)," the spokesman said.

He said China was providing $8.5 million in assistance for the base. No Chinese troops will be stationed at the facility.

Neither the Chinese nor the Tajik government has officially confirmed the base’s construction.

Asked about reports of the base, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, "I am not aware of the situation you mentioned."

The plan to build the post comes amid tension between the Tajik government and Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers and growing security threats in the region.

China has sought to build working relations with the Taliban following their takeover of Afghanistan, but called on them to confront extremist groups operating across the region.

While other Central Asian nations have established working ties with the new Taliban rulers, Tajikistan has railed against the group and eschewed direct talks.

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon has voiced concern about what he called "terrorist groups" positioned at points along its more than 1,300-kilometre border with the country.

According to Russian media, the Taliban have struck an alliance with an ethnic Tajik militant group based in northern Afghanistan which seeks to overthrow Rakhmon's government.

Rahmon has stressed the need for an inclusive Afghan government, particularly including ethnic Tajiks.

Tajikistan, a country of 9.5 million, also hosts a major Russian military base. China is a major investor in Tajikistan and has acted as a donor on several occasions.

A Russia-led regional security organization held drills last week near the Tajik-Afghan border, designed to demonstrate that Moscow stands ready to protect Dushanbe in the event of an incursion from the south.

Russia sends military equipment to Tajikistan citing ‘growing instability’ in region

“Against the backdrop of growing instability near Tajikistan’s southern border, we are working together to ensure the security of our states,” Major General Yevgeny Tsindyaikin said in a statement.

The United States and its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the pretext that the Taliban militants were harboring al-Qaeda. The invasion removed the Taliban from power but it worsened the security situation in the country.

The government of Afghanistan rapidly collapsed on August 15 in the face of the lightning advances of the Taliban that followed US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw American troops. The Taliban announced the formation of a caretaker government on September 7.

Terrorist groups in Afghanistan could attack US in six months: Pentagon

A senior Pentagon official says the US intelligence community has assessed that terrorist groups in Afghanistan could attack the United States in six months if left unchecked, and that they have the intention to carry out such an assault.

In his first congressional testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee members on September 28, Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the war in Afghanistan a “strategic failure.”

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