Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, refuted Tajik authorities’ concerns regarding the infiltration of extremism from Afghanistan to Central Asia.

Mujahid stated that the Taliban have repeatedly assured countries, especially Tajikistan, that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against them.

In an interview with the group-controlled Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Tuesday, Mujahid said that with the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan, security has been ensured, and no harm has been done to other countries from Afghan territory during this period. He added that Afghanistan has endured long wars and the country does not want conflicts in other countries. He emphasised that the Taliban do not allow any overseas groups to operate in Afghanistan.

Rustam Emomali, speaker of the National Assembly of Tajikistan, expressed concerns that the spread of religious extremism from Afghanistan poses a threat to members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). He stated that religious madrassas in Afghanistan are “breeding suicide jihadists.” Emomali highlighted that “more than a thousand religious madrassas have been established in Afghanistan, most of them located in the border provinces.”

On Monday, at the meeting of CSTO state member speakers of parliament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Emomali asserted that the risk of extremism infiltration from Afghanistan to the CSTO countries has increased more than ever.