Tajikistan mobilizes 20,000 reservists to bolster border with Afghanistan

Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon has mobilized 20,000 military reservists to help bolster the border with Afghanistan, Reuters reported on Monday.

This comes as more than 1,000 members of the Afghan security force have fled to the country due to advances by the Taliban.  

The organization has taken over six districts in the northern province of Badakhshan, which borders Tajikistan and China, which led to 1,037 Afghan service members moving across the border in Tajikistan, its border guard service told Reuters. 

Rahmon has called multiple world leaders, including Russian President Vladamir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, to discuss the situation, according to Reuters. 

According to a statement by Russia, Putin told Rahmon he will support Tajikistan if needed to stabilize its border.

“Special attention was paid to the escalation of the situation in Afghanistan’s northern areas adjacent to Tajikistan,” Rahmon’s office said in a statement, according to the news agency.

Rahmon also called Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for assistance and held a council meeting, his office told Reuters. 

A senior Afghan official told the news agency that hundreds of troops have been crossing the border, saying that the Taliban has cut off most of the border. 

The news comes as U.S. troops vacated the Bagram Airfield last week, as part of the country’s withdrawal from the country after 20 years. The Taliban said on Monday that they are accelerating peace talks with the Afghan government since the U.S. withdrawal.