China conducts anti-terror drill with Tajikistan, as Afghan spillover worries grip central Asia

Central Asian nations bordering Afghanistan rendered particularly vulnerable to rising instability there, while China is wary of any impact on Xinjiang

The joint drills show mutual determination to combat terrorism and effectively respond to terrorist threats, China’s public security minister said

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Chinese and Tajik troops take part in an eight-day drill in Tajikistan’s high-altitude Pamirs region bordering China’s Xinjiang region and Afghanistan, in August 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:45pm, 18 Aug 2021Updated: 1:46am, 19 Aug 2021

China started a joint anti-terrorism exercise with Tajikistan on Wednesday, amid growing security concerns in the region following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

While both China and Tajikistan share borders with Afghanistan, the latter’s 1,344km (835-mile) border in particular has rendered it one of the most vulnerable to the rising instability next door after the insurgent group took power.

The “Counterterrorism Collaboration 2021” exercises, led by China’s Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan would last two days, the Chinese ministry said on its website.

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The latest manoeuvres, taking place just outside the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, come only three days after a chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s swift takeover of the reins, stirring deep concerns that terrorist forces in a Taliban-run Afghanistan would cross its borders and spread to neighbouring countries.

“The current international situation is changing and the regional counterterrorism situation is not optimistic,” Zhao Kezhi, China’s minister of public security, said in letters sent to Ramazon Hamro Rahimzoda, Tajikistan’s internal affairs minister, and Saimumin Yatimov, chairman of its State Committee for National Security.

The joint exercises, Zhao wrote, “would enhance the level of operational readiness of the counterterrorism forces of the two sides to practise counterterrorism skills, and demonstrate the determination of both sides to combat terrorism and effectively respond to the terrorist threats faced by both countries”, according to a readout by the Chinese ministry.

China is willing to work closely with Tajikistan on border control and to push forward cooperation under the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) “to jointly safeguard bilateral and regional security”, Zhao wrote.