DUSHANBE (TASS): The Tajik government cannot state the exact number of refugees from Afghanistan that the country is willing to receive, and it fears that supporters of terrorist Islamic groups can enter the country with them, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin stated on Tuesday.
“We need to create certain conditions for refugees to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, so we are unable to state the exact number of refugees we are willing to receive,” the Khovar news agency quotes him as saying.
Muhriddin also said that representatives of Al-Qaeda, Ansar Allah and the Turkistan Islamic Party might enter the country as well.
On Friday, Imomali Ibrohimzoda, the first deputy chief of the Committee for Emergency and Civil Defense, stated that Tajikistan is ready to accept Afghan citizens forced to leave the country due to the offensive operations of the Taliban movement.
According to him, the republic is ready to accept about 100,000 refugees on its territory. They can be sent to the Tajik Defense Ministry sites located near the border with Afghanistan. Ibrohimzoda stressed that the government “is studying the country’s potential for receiving Afghan citizens together with international organizations.” The republic is preparing special refugee camps, he added.
For his part, Khurshed Ziyoi, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, said on Monday that the republic can welcome Afghan refugees, however, its opportunities are not endless.
