Moscow’s attack has sounded the alarm in Tajik society

Moscow’s attack has sounded the alarm in Tajik society


The trial of Moscow attack suspects

The alleged involvement of four Tajik citizens in the deadly attack in Moscow has shocked the community and highlighted the dangers posed by the legacy of Central Asian jihadists.

Thousands of citizens of five former Soviet Union republics in Central Asia, led by Tajikistan, went to Syria and Iraq in the 2010s to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State (ISIS).

The attack on Friday in Moscow left 139 dead and the Khorasan branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Some media have reported that the attackers involved in this attack were Tajik citizens.

Daniil Rustamov, an artist in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, told the AFP news agency: “This is a great tragedy for my youth.”

Millions of Tajik citizens work in Russia, and Rustumov is afraid that “a few criminals will harm all Tajik people” and “Tajiks will be persecuted in Russia.”

Tajikistan, which has a population of 9.7 million, has made the fight against terrorism a priority after the defeat of Islamists in the civil war between 1992 and 1997.

Cross-border conflicts from Afghanistan with the participation of jihadist groups have also involved the mountainous Kishor. ISIS has claimed responsibility for most of these attacks.

Since the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Tajikistan has been one of the staunch critics of the Taliban, as it is concerned about the possible spread of its ideology in its own country.

Dushanbe has regularly emphasized the increase of jihadist activities along the 1,375-kilometer border with Afghanistan and has held joint anti-terrorism military exercises with the Russian and Chinese armies.

Last year, Tajik officials announced that five members of the jihadist group Jamaat Ansarullah were shot dead on the Afghan border.

Tajiks are mourning

Bakhtiyar Ahmadov, a 32-year-old Tajik businessman, says: “Terrorists have no nation or religion.”

And the AFP news agency said that “all the people of Tajikistan are in mourning.”

Imam Ali Rahman, the President of Tajikistan, has also emphasized this issue in his official message which was published in the media of this country.

Rahman, who has been in power in Tajikistan since 1992, said that if the Tajiks support the “people of brother Russia” and “there will be nothing to do with terrorists”.

This is a slogan that the Tajik regime often repeats when its citizens participate in cross-border campaigns. Before the attack on Moscow, the citizens of this country also participated in the January attack in Iran that killed more than 90 people.

In June 2023, the United Nations described the Khorasan branch of ISIS as the biggest terrorist threat in Afghanistan and Central Asia and announced that the number of ISIS fighters and their family members in Afghanistan is between 4,000 and 6,000.

Although Tajikistan has adopted religious measures to suppress fundamentalism, including banning women from wearing the hijab, according to President N Kishor, 2,300 Tajik citizens have joined ISIS since 2015.

The President of Tajikistan said in early March: “During the past three years, 24 of our citizens have committed terrorist acts in 10 countries.”

He added: “The number of young people who have joined terrorist organizations, including ISIS, has increased.” Rahman said that “extremist propaganda attracts young people when they work abroad.”

About one million Tajiks travel to Russia every year and this number is increasing. The Russian army also uses vulnerable migrants and there are many reports about the recruitment of citizens of Central Asian countries to fight in Ukraine.

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