Tajikistan was the only one of Afghanistan’s neighbors that did not engage in talks with the Taliban prior to the militant group’s conquest of most of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan In Turmoil: Full Coverage On Gandhara
Read RFE/RL's Gandhara website for complete coverage of developments in Afghanistan. Gandhara is the go-to source for English-language reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi and its network of journalists, and by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, which offers extensive coverage of Pakistan's remote tribal regions.
Dushanbe kept quiet about events in Afghanistan before the fall of Kabul and for many days after, but when Tajik President Emomali Rahmon met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on August 25, Rahmon said his country would not recognize a Taliban government that did not include representatives from minority groups, naming specifically Afghanistan’s Tajik population.
But even before Rahmon's comments, there were signs that Tajikistan did not welcome the Taliban’s successes in Afghanistan and was loathe to ever engage with the Afghan militant group.
On this week's Majlis podcast, RFE/RL Media-Relations Manager Muhammad Tahir moderates a discussion on Tajikistan’s stance on Afghanistan.
This week’s guests are: from Washington, Paul Stronski, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment’s Russia and Eurasia program; from Prague, Khirimon Bakoeva, senior web editor at RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi; and Bruce Pannier, the author of the Qishloq Ovozi blog.
Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.
