Tajikistan confirms mass deportation of Afghan refugees citing security, migration violations

The government of Tajikistan has officially acknowledged the mass deportation of Afghan refugees residing within its borders, a statement by the Press Centre of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security said.

The announcement comes amid growing regional instability, with Tajik authorities citing an increase in the influx of foreign nationals—many entering the country illegally or in breach of immigration protocols—as a primary concern, Caliber.Az reports.

The committee attributed the surge in migration to the deteriorating political and economic conditions across the broader region.

"Given the complexity of the current geopolitical climate, a significant number of foreign nationals, including Afghan citizens, are residing in Tajikistan—many of whom entered the country unlawfully or have failed to comply with the residency regulations," the statement read.

Recent inspections carried out by border and security services have revealed widespread violations of the migration regime. Among the most serious infractions were:

Involvement in drug trafficking operations;

Propagation of extremist ideologies;

Use of forged documents to obtain refugee status;

And the exploitation of Tajikistan as a transit point for irregular migration.

Authorities emphasized that these violations posed significant threats to national security and public order, prompting the implementation of strict deportation measures. "These circumstances have necessitated the expulsion of individuals in breach of the law, including a number of Afghan citizens," the committee said in its press release.

Just this April, Tajikistan deported around 50 Afghans who held refugee documents issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Most of the deportees worked as taxi drivers in Vahdat, a town 15 kilometres outside Dushanbe. The refugees were reportedly summoned to the local state security department, where their documents were confiscated before they were transported to the border in two vehicles.

In the first week of June, the Ministry of Migration Affairs of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan announced that 49 Afghans had been deported from Tajikistan for “unknown reasons.” The migrants – 36 of whom held residence permits in Tajikistan, while 13 others had valid visas – were returned to Afghanistan via the Sherkhan border crossing in Kunduz province.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan has served as a refuge for citizens of neighboring Afghanistan fleeing the civil war in the 1990s, the US invasion in the 2000s, and the return of the Taliban in 2021. The Tajik government, which has long used the fight against religious extremism in the region as a pretext for cracking down on domestic opposition, positioned itself as unabashedly anti-Taliban to bolster its own popularity and at first welcomed the waves of refugees in 2021.

Current unofficial estimates place the number of Afghan refugees in the country between 10,000 and 13,000, a number difficult to verify. A significant portion of these Afghans are awaiting decisions on immigration cases, particularly resettlement opportunities through countries like Canada.

By Vafa Guliyeva