The arrest of a Tajik man in New York charged with sending money to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group adds to a growing list of citizens of the Central Asian nation accused of plotting or carrying out terrorist attacks in recent years.
The Tajik Interior Ministry told RFE/RL on February 28 that it was aware of the arrest of 33-Mansuri Manuchekhri, who was ordered into custody during his appearance in a federal court in New York this week.
There have been no other public comments by Tajik authorities about Manuchekhri’s arrest since U.S. federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint in his case on February 26, but the Tajik Interior Ministry told RFE/RL it was investigating the matter.
His arrest comes just months after U.S. authorities deported eight Tajik citizens with alleged IS ties, and amid ongoing efforts by the Tajik government to tackle what it calls the mounting threats of religious extremism and terrorism.
“We ask parents to speak to their children who live abroad, but I don’t think it yields results. Their children are adults, they have their own lives,” a district official involved in a door-to-door anti-extremism campaign in Tajikistan’s southern Khatlon region told RFE/RL.
The criminal complaint and affidavit unsealed by U.S. prosecutors this week alleges that between December 2021 and April 2023, Manuchekhri funneled $70,000 to IS members and relatives of the extremist group’s slain fighters in Turkey and Syria.
“The defendant allegedly supported [Islamic State] and sent thousands of dollars overseas to individuals connected to [Islamic State],” Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel said.
Among those purported to have received money from Manuchekhri was an individual later arrested in Turkey for alleged involvement in a January 2024 terrorist attack on an Istanbul church that Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), an IS branch, claimed responsibility for.
Manuchekhri expressed support for the terrorist group by “by praising past [IS] attacks in the United States and by collecting jihadi propaganda videos promoting violence and martyrdom,” the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
Tajiks Linked To Terrorist Attacks Abroad
Manuchekhri’s case comes amid a rising number of Tajik nationals accused in connection with terrorist plots and attacks on behalf of IS in recent years.
As many as 30 Tajiks have been implicated in IS-related terrorist attacks and plots beyond Muslim-majority Tajikistan’s borders since January 2024, including in the United States and Russia.
In the most high-profile case, four Tajik men were arrested in Russia for allegedly carrying out an assault on a concert venue outside Moscow in March 2024, killing 145 people.
Russian authorities arrested up to 20 people, most of them Tajik nationals, suspected of aiding the assailants.
In Iran, two Tajik citizens reportedly carried out a double suicide bombing that killed 91 people in the city of Kerman on January 3, 2024.
That same day, two assailants targeted a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul. Turkish authorities said one of the attackers was from Tajikistan.
German police, meanwhile, said in January 2024 that a Tajik migrant had been arrested on suspicion of planning attacks on cathedrals in Germany and Austria.
IS-K Attacks, Plots Inside Tajikistan
On February 14, Tajik Prosecutor General Habibulloh Vohidzoda announced that authorities “recorded 1,494 terrorism- and extremism-related crimes” in 2024, an 18-percent uptick compared to the previous year.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said 30 people were jailed over an IS-K plot to carry out a massacre during the 2024 Navruz celebrations by “poisoning food” prepared for public parties and gatherings to mark the Persian new year.
Those convicted in the purported foiled attack were handed prison sentences ranging from eight to 20 years, prosecutors said, adding that 10 other suspects remained at large.
In January, nine people, including a woman, were jailed in connection with a bombing that killed the local chief of the ruling People's Democratic Party in the southern city of Kulob last year that was claimed by IS-K.
Disenchanted Youth
With chronic unemployment, rampant corruption, and authoritarian governance, Tajikistan features ingredients to make disenchanted youth susceptible to IS propaganda.
Tajikistan, which strongman President Emomali Rahmon has ruled for more than three decades, is the poorest country in Central Asia, with a GDP per capita of $1,280.
The government has maintained tight control over how Islam is practiced in the country, shutting down all religious schools and many mosques, appointing pro-government imams, and banning the Islamic hijab in schools and offices. The country also has an unofficial ban on bushy beards.
Critics say the crackdown has alienated many Tajiks.
Door-to-Door Campaign Against Extremism
The Tajik government frequently urges its citizens, especially young people, to remain vigilant against online propaganda by religious extremist and terrorist groups.
A government-backed study in 2024 concluded that some 85 percent of Tajik nationals who fought for IS in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan were recruited while working in Russia.
The authors of the study by the Academy of the Tajik Interior Ministry warned about "Internet imams" who use social media to reach out to migrant workers.
In a bid to stop young people from joining terrorist groups, Tajik authorities have launched a campaign called Door-To-Door that has mobilized thousands of state workers to visit households across the country to speak to people about the dangers of IS-K propaganda.
Several residents of the Khatlon province told RFE/RL that the teams conduct informal talks about online groups that radicalize young people.
Officials also conduct frequent meetings at schools and mosques.
“We cannot control Tajiks who live in Russia or America. If they are influenced by terrorist propaganda, there is not much the parents, or the Tajik government, can do about it. But we try,” the district official in the province who spoke to RFE/RL said.
Tajik experts and opposition politicians have said the government would be better off focusing on creating jobs and economic opportunities, as well as respecting civil liberties.
