Afghanistan and Tajikistan took an unexpected step toward easing years of strained relations on Tuesday when Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin held their first official phone conversation since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. The discussion, according to statements released by both governments, focused on political relations, economic cooperation, regional security, and the future of cross-border initiatives long stalled by years of hostility.
A major topic of the conversation was the recent killing of several Chinese citizens inside Tajikistan. Muttaqi condemned the attacks, which occurred in two separate incidents on November 24 and November 30. In the first, assailants targeted a Chinese work camp near the Esteqlol border crossing using a grenade-dropping drone and small-arms fire led to deaths of 3 Chinese workers. Tajik authorities have said the attack originated from across the border in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province. The second incident also resulted in the deaths of 2 Chinese workers, and no group has yet claimed responsibility for either attack.
The killings came only days after a senior Tajik delegation visited Kabul for high-level meetings—the first such visit since 2021. The timing has fueled speculation in local media that the attacks may have been intended to undermine improving contacts between Kabul and Dushanbe. Tajikistan is the only country in Central Asia that has not re-established diplomatic relations with the Taliban-led government, maintaining its embassy in Kabul under diplomats from the former Afghan administration. Historic political, ethnic, and ideological tensions have made Dushanbe one of the Taliban’s harshest critics, with Tajik officials frequently labeling the Islamic Emirate a regional threat.
Despite this backdrop, Tuesday’s conversation touched on several potential areas of practical cooperation. Both sides discussed border security and counterterrorism concerns—issues that have dominated bilateral tensions since cross-border incidents surged in recent years. They also addressed the CASA-1000 electricity transmission project, which aims to carry surplus energy from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Construction inside Afghanistan resumed in February 2024 despite diplomatic friction, with completion estimated for 2027.
While Tajikistan has not yet agreed to hand over control of the Afghan embassy in Dushanbe to Taliban-appointed diplomats, the Afghan consulate in the border town of Khorg has been under Islamic Emirate control since 2023. Tuesday’s call is being viewed by regional analysts as a tentative opening—limited, cautious, but nonetheless the most significant diplomatic engagement between the two sides in more than three years.