The Chairman of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan (SCNS), Saimumin Yatimov, has met in Kabul with the Chairman Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, to discuss regional security issues.

Dr. Abdullah wrote on Facebook on February 14 that he has met with Tajik chief security officer and discussed ongoing intra-Afghan peace talks in Qatar's capital, Doha, bilateral security cooperation, and the situation along the Afghan-Tajik border. 

Afghan media reports say the meeting took place in Kabul on February 14 and the two discussed issues related to bilateral security cooperation between the two countries.  

“Highly appreciating the principal and constant support of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon for peace efforts in Afghanistan, we underlined the significance of continuation of work of regional community on achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan,” Afghan politician noted.  

According to Radio Liberty, Abdullah's aide, Mujibrahman Rahimi, wrote on Facebook that during the Abdullah-Yatimov talks, the two sides discussed the regional implications of the situation in Afghanistan and joint efforts against terrorism and extremism.

“Authorities in Central Asia, including Tajikistan, are concerned about the unclarity in the ongoing Afghan peace talks, the continuation of violence in Afghanistan, the activation of terrorist groups in Afghanistan's north, and the growing illegal drugs smuggling via the Afghan-Tajik border," Rahimi wrote.

On the eve of Tajik security chief’s visit to Kabul, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon had phone talks with his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, on February 11 to discuss regional issues and bilateral ties, according to the Tajik president’s official website. 

This is the second trip of the SCNS chief to Afghanistan since early September last year.  According to Tajik national news agency Khovar, Yatimov heading SCNS’s delegation made a working visit to Afghanistan from September 9 through September 11.  During the meetings and talks with Afghan high-ranking state officials, the sides discussed issues related to enhancing security situation in the two friendly countries and the region, border control, fight against international terrorism and extremism, drug trafficking and other challenges and threats, as well as communication and energy security and economic projects.

Radio Liberty reported in December that Tajikistan has deployed additional troops along its southern border with Afghanistan after Afghan authorities claimed a group of militants from Tajikistan played a major role in the Taliban's capture of an Afghan district in November.  Afghan officials said the majority of the militants who overran the Maymay district in the northeastern Badakhshan Province in November were foreign fighters, including militants from Tajikistan.  They said the fighters belong to Jamaat Ansarullah, a militant group founded in Afghanistan by Tajik national Amriddin Tabarov in 2010.

In early December, a 10-minute video appeared on social media purportedly showing Tajik insurgents fighting against Afghan government forces in Maymay, which borders Tajikistan.  Footage depicts them killing men in Afghan Army uniforms and civilian clothes and setting fire to a building.  At the end, the militants show off weapons and vehicles they purportedly seized from the Afghan troops.  Afghan authorities confirmed the killings and the destruction in Maymay. Media quoted local residents who said militants, "particularly the Tajiks," killed and beheaded Afghan soldiers.